His Captive, Her Victim
by ShanelleSpanton
Summary: Ris is far from human, and Sebastian Morgenstern is determined to find out what and who she is. But Ris is not one for caving easily, clearly it wont be an easy task for the lovely boy with a dark heart.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place after the City of Lost Souls and before the City of Heavenly Fire. **

**The character of Sebastian Morgenstern and themes of this work belongs to Cassandra Clare (you MUST read her work if you haven't already, and I'll assume you have if you're reading this) everything else belongs to me.**

I stand stock still in the shadow of the alley way. Its raining, hard, water coming down in thick sheets and coating the partiers milling about on the pavements. Women shriek as they hold handbags aloft to shield them from the rain, hobbling along in their sky high heels and short skirts that hinder their movements. Men jog along, wearing no coats, in nothing but jeans or shorts. Stupid attire, I think with annoyance.

I make a noise of impatience in the back of my throat, irritated that I'm stood out here at all.

There are sheets of metal attached in various places to the walls of my alley, which do shield me easily from the rain, and it has been a long time since the temperature has bothered me. So the goose bumps I can feel rising beneath my leather jacket are easily ignored.

I wrap my arms around my middle, eyes scanning with a defined, well measured gaze, I see no flash of dark eyes or pale skin, no white hair in the shadows. This is definitely the street he'd wanted to meet.

I make another crude sound; I could be anywhere else. Its Saturday, a prime night for crimes of the vilest kind to be committed. Crimes I could be out preventing. Instead I'm stood in the dark next to a pile of rotten rubbish waiting for a stranger like some silly lap dog.

The thought makes my chest burn with such a sudden fury and indignation, that with a snarl I step out into the rain with the intention of leaving and never coming back. But that moment is the exact one that I spot him.

He is stood on the street opposite, half hidden by the shadow of the alcove he occupies. The building that the alcove belongs to looks like a block of flats of the expensive kind, nothing too special though.

My gaze is sharp, and I can pick out the fluttering of his white hair in the autumn wind. I can see his eyes sweeping the pavements, probably in search of me, with an intensity that had my eyes darting skyward in annoyance. He's perched on the balls of his feet, every bit of his lean body bouncing slightly, as if in anticipation.

I wonder briefly if I should just walk off; I could slip away easily without him seeing.

But there is a hesitancy in my chest that hasn't been there for a while. The knowledge that we are alike is heavy in my mind. I want to know him, know if we are similar, in any way at all. With a heavy sigh I start forward, cursing myself viciously.

I edge my way into a large group of humans, already loud and boisterous with the presence of alcohol. I can smell it in the air around them, even though many of them avoid me or don't notice my presence all together. They cross the street, and I move with them, silent, my steps calculated.

They move in front of his hiding place, and when they pass him, stumbling and roaring with laughter, I step away, towards him, halting on the pavement before the set of stairs that will lead me up to him.

Sebastian's gaze finds mine easily, I can see his eyes from here, a dark, dark brown. Almost black. They zero in on me with an accuracy to impress. He beckons, waving me up the stairs and inviting me into his shelter.

I move forward, stopping momentarily on the second to top step to make sure he knows to move aside, to keep his distance.

He does, moving to press himself to the other wall while I lean against one side, running my pale fingers through my damp hair, shaking the thick droplets of rain from the curling, snarling strands.

"You came" his voice is deep, but smooth, calculated, designed to have an effect. I remain silent. "I didn't think you would" he gaze is cool on my face. I shrug.

Seeing that I'm clearly not going to respond any time soon, he shrugs, and instead of turning out onto the street like I expect him to, he turns to the doors of the flats, pushing the glass open wide and holding them open for me to slip through.

The glass is covered with black velvet, which is why I'm surprised to find a long, carpeted corridor set out before me when I step over the fresh hold. There is purple wallpaper over the walls, and metal braziers set in the walls high above my head at regular intervals. Small fireballs flickering within them, the flame isn't orange, but purple, throwing off violet, dancing light.

"Where are we?" my voice is sharp, and I wince inwardly at the tone, I didn't expect it to be so harsh.

"You'll see," he grins, not at me, more at himself. He moves forward, a skip in his step that irritates me greatly. I snag his arm and jerk him to a stop. He glances down at me, shocked that I'm able to stop him at all; I guess he isn't stopped often.

"I'm not one for surprises, Jonathon Morgenstern" I growl, he winces at the name.

"Its not that big of a surprise. Come on" he reaches out a hand, the one that isn't attached to the wrist that I'm gripping painfully. His hand closes around my other wrist, much more gentle, his touch warm as it wraps easily around my hand.

With a hiss of irritation I remove my hand, and yank my other from his hold. He pouts, but I can tell it's a sarcastic expression.

With an air of self assurance he leads me confidently down the corridor, there are no other doors, except for the velvet clad glass ones at the end. He opens it, motioning me through ahead of him chivalrously.

I'm irritated to find yet another corridor, this one much shorter, other than that exactly the same. I turn to Sebastian to complain, scowl evident, when a hand seizes the edge of my coat.

I don't think, its automatic as I whirl, my hand flashing out like a pale knife in the dim corridor. I barely see my opponent before my hand is sweeping to clutch their collar, yanking them from the floor to slam them into the nearest wall.

When I hear the squawk, is when my eyes focus enough. I'm met with a goblin before me, caught in my grip. It's stumpy legs dangling far from the ground, its beady black eyes set on me with fury, and fear, definitely fear. Its long, sharp black nails claw at the backs of my hands and cuts deep, but I don't even wince.

"Ris!" Sebastian is there at my shoulder, a calming hand resting between my shoulder blades, murmuring low in my ear "He's just the doorman, no threat at all, sweetheart. Put the little man down"

I lower him slowly, glaring viciously the whole time until I release him. He falls back into the wall, gasping, hands clutching the throat I barely touched.

"That will teach you not to touch ladies without permission" Sebastian grins down at him, malice in his eyes. His hand is still resting on my back, the warmth of his palm evident even through the leather of my jacket. I shake him off with narrowed eyes.

Sebastian levels his gaze at me for a moment, then shrugs, he strips his coat, a long, black thing, expensive looking, the kind Sherlock Holmes would wear. He tosses it unceremoniously towards the goblin, who catches it from the air.

"No weapons" the goblin glares at me.

"Don't have any" I shrug.

"No lying" he hisses.

Sebastian grabs my hand and steers me quickly away, the goblin's shrill voice calling after us, but soon Sebastian is at the glass doors, hands on the doorknobs, glancing down at me with a manic, excited expression.

"Ready?" he grins.

"How can I be ready when I don't know what it is?" I grumble, but he's already looked away. He yanks on the door handle, and I gasp.

The blare of the music almost knocks me from my feet. The sweltering heat of bodies makes it hard for me to breathe, and we're only on the edge of the crowd. Neon lights make kaleidoscope patterns, throwing them over my body and half blinding me. Sebastian snags my hand, and I glare up at him.

"You brought me to a _nightclub?!_" I roar over the scream of music and bellow of the crowd.

He doesn't reply, only gives a wild smile and yanks me forward, his hand wrapped securely around mine, much larger in comparison.

He yanks me deep into the folds of the crowd. The air is hard to breathe here, and I'm momentarily irritated by my jacket, too tight on me now.

To distract myself I turn my gaze to the room, allowing Sebastian to tug me forward. The room is dome shaped, expansive to the point where I can barely see the edges of the room, nor the ceiling that seems to just be a smoky shadow of black.

The crowd heaves, and I growl at any hands that reach towards me, brushing my thighs or my behind with an ease that tells me this is the norm here. I slap those hands away, baring my teeth or flashing my eyes at the owners of those hands, who mostly quickly turn away.

There are not just humans here, in fact, there are very little of them. Its clear to me this is a place for Downworlders to roam free.

We skirt the edges of the crowd, which is just as packed as the middle of the dance floor. There are doorways in the walls, revealing smallish round rooms, some with large beds inside, I turn quickly from those rooms, my face colouring at the humans cushioned on the mattresses, moaning at the vampires lapping at their necks. I shudder, and then blush when I see Sebastian watching me with sharp eyes, turned slightly so he can see me clearly. When I catch him looking, he smirks, and I aim a jab at his ribs with a glare.

He only laughs, turning back around to tug me along again.

I turn my gaze back to the rooms, dodging the beings milling about without looking. Some of the rooms are larger than others. There are smaller ones, piles of cushions spread on the floor or in a corner, usually with a bulbous man perched atop them like a king, a faerie or warlock dancing in front of them.

My stomach burns, but I choose to turn away, for now. Maybe I'll return later.

Sebastian stops so suddenly I almost crash into him, but manage to catch myself just in time. He turns back to me, his striking face smooth as he motions towards a shadowed doorway, the view of inside obscured by a veil of fluttering silk.

"If you think I'm giving you a lap dance-" I snarl at him, but he laughs, reaching out to swat the silk aside.

I peer in, only to find the smallest room I've seen yet, round in shape, with a wooden table situated in the middle, and a stone ridge going all the way around the room in the absence of chairs.

I glare at Sebastian, indicating for him to go first, to which he happily obliges, sauntering in, clearly at ease. He holds aside the silk as I move in cautiously.

The room really is very small, windowless, about two meters wide, tops. There's two braziers in here, on opposite sides of the room, and the fire flickering within them is purple, throwing reaching shadows over the two of us.

Sebastian flops down onto the stone ledge, kicking his feet up onto the table.

"Sit," he indicates to the rest of his ledge, my eyes flash at his commanding voice, and he quickly adds "Please"

I sit cautiously, on the very edge of the stone, ready to jump up at any given moment. Sebastian watches me with an amused expression.

"Why did you bring me to a nightclub?" I ask, perplexed as I glance around the small room, and then to the curtain, where I can still see the mass of moving bodies and flashing lights, the music is only a dull throb in here though.

"I thought it would be fun" he shrugs.

"Fun," I repeat incredulously "The first time we met, I was covered in the blood of a man I'd murdered in front of you. At what point did you make the assumption I'd be into _fun?_" my question is deadly serious, but he chuckles heartily before answering.

"I thought that was fun for you" his accusation - and it is definitely an accusation - brings me up short, because it is mostly fun for me. I settle for glaring at him viciously, and we both for silent for a moment.

"So," he starts again, his expression never wavering from my face "You actually came today"

"I thought we'd established that" his mouth quirks up at the left corner, his eyes shining with amusement.

"I just wanted to know why"

"Why what?" I frown.

"Why you did come here" he sits up, kicking his legs off the table to rest his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, he doesn't break eye contact once, and I'm too stubborn to look away.

"Curiosity will be the death of me" I shrug.

"You were curious" he says slowly, he shifts forward, cautiously, moving around the ledge, I narrow my eyes, but let him near. He stops a foot from me.

"Yes" I confirm.

"You walked into a potentially dangerous situation because you were curious" he elaborates, and I nod "Wow"

"What?"

"I just find that hard to believe" he rubs at the back of his neck, I don't miss his movement when he slides a little closer.

"Why?"

"Well, you're…" he indicates to me, awkwardly, I think. At least, colour creeps into his cheeks.

"What?" my voice is sharp, "A girl?"

"I was going to say," he says carefully, even though he shifts his body so he's leaning forward "You look wiser than that"

"Would it have been wise to avoid you? _Is_ there a potentially dangerous situation?" I raise an eyebrow at him pointedly.

"Not from me" is his immediate answer. He rubs at his knuckles, now facing me directly, as we're both turned on the stone ledge to face each other. My eyes drop to the movement he's making, and I take my time inspecting his hands. Large, pale, with long nimble fingers. Musician's hands. There are scars there though too, little patterns of raised flesh across the knuckles. Fighter's hands. I rub at the scars on my own unconsciously, realising; we match.

His own eyes drop down to catch the movement, they are the same; smaller than his, whiter, but with the same scars across the knuckles. His eyebrows rise, but he remains silent.

"Well," I shrug, coming back to the conversation at hand "It's been a long time since I was really in danger"

"Because you stay hidden?" he guesses, dropping his hands so they rest on his knees, pointed towards me now.

"No." I cant help a smile when he scowls at being wrong "Because I usually am the danger"

He laughs, his head thrown backwards and everything. The sound is a whole one, one that fills the space with an almost visible silver light that wraps around my body like a thick woollen blanket. I scowl at the feeling.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk about?" I ask, curious despite myself.

"I wanted to ask you how you do it"

"Do what?"

"Do, this" he waves a hand at me, and I frown, still uncomprehending "You're good. Even though you're part demon"

"How do you know I'm part demon?" I arch an eyebrow.

He chuckles "There aren't many of us around, Ris" I almost shiver at how he says my name. The same as when anyone else pronounces it I suppose, but it sounds different coming from his lips. Like it's a secret that is safe in his mouth. "We're easy to pick out, especially to each other I guess. You look different than other people. You… shine. Like very fine glitter has been sprinkled over you."

I frown at him, because he doesn't shine to me.

"You have both Shadowhunter and demon blood within you. Like me. You're good though, and I need to know how to do it"

"Why do you think I'm good?" I glare at him challengingly.

"I heard those screams that night we met. I saw the girl, even though you tried to hide her. You rescued her" his eyes dare me to deny it.

"Wouldn't you have too, if you'd happened across an attract?" my voice is too sharp and too loud, defensive.

"You didn't happen across that attack. You were following the man, you expected him to hurt someone and wanted to stop it" he says it with absolute clarity.

"And you know I was following the man, how?"

"Because I was following you" he grins, and unexpectedly, I laugh. Loudly. I quickly clamp down on it, but the damage is already done; he's grinning.

"You're good," I comment dryly, sniffing. He shrugs broad shoulders like he knows this but it doesn't really matter.

"Tell me" I frown "How do you do it, Ris?" he's earnest now, leaning forward, his eyes pleading "Its in our very instincts to destroy. To hate. To cause chaos. It is such a dominant part of me" he looks away, and he looks almost sad. "But not you. Why?"

"Maybe your parent is a stronger demon than mine" I suggest, even though I know that is not the reason.

"Possibly." he nods seriously "The demon who helped create me was quite powerful"

"Name?" I inquire.

"Lilith" my eyebrows raise sharply.

"Mother of demons?" I demand, he nods, almost looking embarrassed. I angle back, my face thoughtful. For a moment he looks panicked, and his hands twitch on his knees, half rising to reach to me. I realise then he thinks I'm scared, and I smirk "Impressive" is all I say, and he gives a smile that seems almost relieved.

"She didn't carry you though" its not a question, but I leave the sentence hanging for him to finish.

"No," he agrees, although I didn't need him to "My parents were Shadowhunters. My father, Valentine Morgenstern, wanted to create an advanced race of Shadowhunter. He experimented using Lilith's blood on my pregnant mother, feeding it to her while I developed in her womb"

"Intense" I comment, he shrugs. His questioning gaze causes me to sigh "My father was a demon, my mother a Shadowhunter"

"Biological father?" he says sharply.

"Yes"

"But the offspring of Shadowhunter and demon is always born dead. Its known…" he trails off, peering at my face, probably in much the same way his father would have inspected his experiments. I don't answer. "Was your mother raped?" he asks softly, and I'm glad for that, because my insides freeze at the word.

"No"

"She willingly…?" he frowns, and I see the whispers of disgust marring his lovely features.

"She did. He was in human form, if that makes the possibility easier to bare" my sharp gaze must tell him I see the disgust, and he quickly wipes his face clean.

"What was his name?"

"He has a few"

"I might recognize one" he presses. I roll my eyes.

"I believe Satan might be the most recognizable. Perhaps Lucifer" I shrug. I take great pleasure in watching Sebastian splutter in disbelief.

"You're father… is the devil?" he demands, his eyebrows forming a crease.

"Well, if you want to resort to extremes I suppose he is." I shrug, and he shakes his head "He is a Fallen Angel, and not actually a demon, although many put the two in the same category, but there are some differences. That's probably why we are different"

"But even so," he shakes his head, looking bewildered "Fallen angels are still… very evil"

"Depends who's perspective you look at it from, I suppose" I smirk when he shakes his head at me again.

"Wow," he leans back to run his fingers through his hair, peering at me again, like if he looks hard enough he'll be able to find a switch or puzzle that will allow me to click open and spill everything about me. "I guess I'll have to be careful around you then, daughter of the devil" he smirks.

"You should be careful of me anyway, regardless of my parentage" he grins at me, his eyes twinkling in a way that has me staring.

I glance away, unnerved by my readiness to stare._ This isn't normal,_ I curse myself.

"Would you like to dance?" his words, spoken quietly, have me glancing at him sharply.

"Excuse me?" I squint at him, but the only thing he does is stand to drag his long sleeved dark jumper over his head, revealing a short sleeved - tight - black shirt beneath. He holds a hand out to me, smirking.

"You want me to… dance?" I demand, my voice rising several octaves.

"You cant?" the challenge is evident on his face "Or are you scared?" the sneer is playful, but I stand so fast that my movement is a blur. He blinks when he finds me stood glaring at him, but he soon grins.

He moves towards me, but I shift backwards, not realising how close I actually am to the ledge, and the backs of my knees hit it hard enough to make me wince. A moment later I yelp as I topple, overbalanced.

I feel pressure on my waist, and find that I'm suddenly stable, and still upright. I glance up, eyes narrowing as Sebastian looks down at me, his cool breath tickling my cheeks, his arm wrapped securely around my waist.

"Careful" he warns.

"That was your fault!" I shove him back, irritated.

"I wasn't going to try anything," he rolls his eyes and reaches for me again, too quickly for me to stop him. His fingers have seized the collar of my jacket and the zip before I can blink.

He gets it half way down before I grab his wrists, and he winces as I squeeze.

"You'll be too hot, Ris" he murmurs, he has to dip his head to look into my eyes, and even then we're at an angle. Slowly, without my permission, my hands let go of his wrists. He pulls the zip down slowly, the noise too loud in the space between us. He lifts his hands again when it falls open, gripping the collars and pushing.

His cool skin brushes mine as he removes it. Rough fingertips moving over my collarbone, the base of my neck, guiding the leather down my arms, just happening to trail the length of my arms the whole time.

He catches the coat before it can hit the floor and tosses it onto the table where his own jumper lies, and when his eyes drop to my waist, amusement sparkles within them.

"Your weapons will be safe in here," he says and reaches for the belt that holds two Seraph blades, a hunting dagger and three throwing knives. He pauses with his hands on the buckle and pauses there, asking permission without words, I nod, and he removes it swiftly. I'm left in the flimsy outfit I was supposed to go hunting in. "I'll protect you instead" he smiles loftily.

"I don't need protecting" I growl as he turns to the curtain.

"Of course not," he chuckles, he extends his hand to me, palm up invitingly. I ignore it, so with a snort he twitches aside the curtain.

I gasp again as the music hits me, the heat, the air that feels like you're drinking it rather than actually breathing it in.

Sebastian steps out, clearly at ease, and I follow him hastily.

The mass of bodies consumes me almost instantly. I gasp as bodies press close to mine, too many hands to slap away searching my now exposed skin. I'm suddenly resenting the clothes I wore. I was supposed to look inviting, to human men, but to the being's here I look down right delicious with all the exposed skin. My arms, throat and shoulders are left bare, considering I'm wearing a corset type top that comes in at the waist with no arms. It's black, and the flimsy ribbon securing the back is tugged on more than once. My legs are covered, thank god, but the jeans I'm wearing are extremely close fitted, and slashes in the thighs reveal lines of white flesh. I sigh deeply as a set of sharp nails trail over my forearm, which I quickly yank away.

Without thinking, I grab for Sebastian, snagging his hand in one of mine, the other one clasping on his forearm.

I glance up just as he looks down, I expect him to grin in triumph, but he doesn't, just gives me a smile that seems almost encouraging.

We find a small pocket between the pulsing bodies and stop, Sebastian twisting to face me, keeping my hand clasped in his though.

I glance up at him, and look away almost immediately, embarrassed. My body is clumsy, refusing to move like it usually does when I command it. I wince as I step on his toes, when the palm he is holding becomes clammy.

With my body bobbing awkwardly, I glance around the place, automatically searching for any signs of a struggle, an attack, but its dark in here, except for the neon lights turning everybody's skin bizarre colours, and its hard to pick out the people dancing next to me let alone the dark corners of the room. I duck swiftly when a vampire moves across my path, arms swaying dangerously, when I glance up at Sebastian I see him laugh. I smile too, but it dies a moment later when his fingertips brush a loose orange curl from my cheek to tuck it behind my ear.

I smile at him tentatively, and he grins back, looking thrilled, probably because I didn't shove his hand away this time.

I have to look away again, because I can feel the heat building in my cheeks, and even if he could spot it in the dim light, which he probably can, I don't want him to see it in my eyes, which he definitely will.

This is not going well, I curse myself, and when I see a warlock, recognizable by the antlers growing from his forehead, passing with a tray held aloft, I lunge for him to snag a drink.

I turn back to Sebastian, who's eyebrows are raised high, but I ignore him for the moment. I take a quick whiff of the pinkish liquid in the wine glass, and my head swims almost immediately, yup, faerie drugs there all right.

I deliberate, faerie drugs don't really hinder me, only make me feel like I've just taken a happy pill. At the most, I'll see a dull haze. It'll certainly fix this painful situation. With a sigh, I chuck back half the glass, quickly, grimacing at the sickly sweet taste. I offer it to Sebastian, who quirks a brow, but shrugs a moment later and takes it to down the glass.

I close my eyes, waiting for the haze of the drugs, and slowly feel the smile twisting my lips. I feel pressure on my waist, but I wait another few seconds, feeling the stiffness leave my limbs, feel the hostility drift away from me as if in an autumn breeze. Only then do I open my eyes, and what I see is beautiful.

The lights don't hurt anymore, instead they look like rainbows to me, welcoming and pretty beyond words, and I stretch up my hands to catch the light in my palms. Everything has become shrouded in mist, and I let my hands drift outwards from my body to glide through it, feeling it tickle my skin. The music doesn't feel painful to me now, its become a low hum in the back of my mind, I can barely hear it, and for that I'm glad.

But my eyes are glued to the masterpiece in front of me, like his eyes are glued to me.

His hands are the pressure on my waist, and his hold is no longer uncomfortable, its light, holding onto me with an easiness that is assured I wont disappear. His skin is almost translucent in the light, glowing, glittering and shining like faerie dust has been sprinkled finely over his skin. His eyes glitter too, no longer hard and distant, but tender, and the colour looks lighter now, brown rather than black, and my sharp eyesight picks out flecks of green wrapped up in the colour. His lips are parted, his cheeks flushed, his white blonde hair tousled in a disarrayed way.

Its not just that though, he is beautiful, without a doubt. But his face is different somehow, it is no longer closed off, marred by the mask of sarcasm and witty banter. It's like a flame has flickered into life behind his skin, and its glowing steadily now, twisting his lips up into a smile so sweet it makes my chest ache. It lights his eyes and flesh and makes it almost painful to look at him, because he is warm and glowing and _brilliant. _

And he stares at me like no one else has ever stared at me. My breath hitches in my throat just as his hands tighten on my waist, pulling me closer, so close my chest meets his, my thighs brush his, and he lowers his head close enough for me to feel his cool breath on my face. Those black eyes, lighter now, shine. With excitement and longing and desire and an awe that makes me shiver.

I don't step on his toes anymore, we move together like we were made strictly for this one moment in time. Like we were built of metal and clockwork and designed solely to fit together perfectly at this exact moment. I don't know if we're dancing - I don't know how to dance - but we're moving. I'm not entirely sure we move properly, the way people are supposed to move in this situation, but it brings the gazes of those around us crashing down on our twisting frames.

My chest tightens when our eyes meet, I feel the heat build in my face, not because of embarrassment - the drugs will allow you peace of mind in any situation - but because his eyes roam over me, not like the people watching us.

They watch me like they'd like to take a chunk from me, fangs extending and eyes flashing yellow, and fire sparking from fingertips as they watch us. Hungry for either Sebastian or I. It doesn't matter.

Sebastian looks at me in a completely different way, hungry, definitely, but it's a delicate hunger. His hands are gentle on me, his eyes roam with an appreciation that is respectful but with an intensity that makes me blush.

I meet his eyes again, only for an instant, before I have to turn away. I cant - its too painful to look directly at him.

Instead I spin, turning away, my back to his chest, my behind pressed into his thighs, he doesn't seem to mind this arrangement. A second later his hands skim my waist, flutter against my sides like I'm a delicate sculpture that he has carefully constructed and will break if his wondering hands are too rough. His fingertips creep to my hips, splaying there and pulling me back even more, anchoring me to him.

My breath catches, and my competitiveness leaks around the cracks of the faerie drugs, and I refuse to be influenced like this without at least giving some back.

My hand reaches up and behind me, finding him easily enough. It snakes around the back of his neck, running lightly over the tender skin, and when it settles, I dig in my nails. I hear his faint gasp, close to my ear, and I cant help grinning.

I feel his breath at the side of my neck and turn, pushing my face into his throat, my nose skimming the curve of his flesh, my head falling back onto his shoulder to do so. The vein at the base of his neck is throbbing, and I inspect it as it flutters. With a frown, I arch my neck and tentatively flick my tongue over it, my stomach gurgling as I do so.

I hear the growl, coming from deep within Sebastian's throat, and yelp as he seizes my upper arm to swing me back round to him. I half expect him to be angry, but he is far from it when my gaze raises to his. He doesn't meet my eyes, only dips his head to burry his face in the crook of my neck. His breath is hot against my skin now, and his hands grapple at my back, twitching up under my shirt to spread wide over the bare skin.

"You aren't playing fair" he pants in my ear, and I laugh softly as my hands go almost unconsciously to his hair, twisting into the strands and tugging lightly.

"I don't care" I whisper back, my lips brushing the sharp curve of his jaw as I whisper it, and I hear the growl emit from him yet again.

"Fine," for a moment I think I have won, until I feel the brush of pressure at the backs of my knees, then I yelp as they're swept out from under me, I grimace, waiting for the pain of the ground, but it doesn't arrive. Instead I find myself staring into Sebastian eyes, almost on the same level now, I feel my legs dangling around his hips, his hands hooking around my thighs and clamping them to his sides.

People cheer as Sebastian starts to move, the crowd part for us as I wrap my arms around his shoulders, holding on tight. I feel the thuds as onlookers slap his back, laughing, as if congratulating him. My chest burns for a second, angry, indignant, but soon its washed away. Whether by the light in Sebastian's eyes or the faerie drugs still coursing through my veins, I'll never know.

The light becomes dimmer, the air cooler, and I realise we're in the little room we'd occupied before. Sebastian sets me down, and I stumble without him to support me. The backs of my knees knocking into the table with dull thuds, I wince.

Sebastian faces away from me, towards the door, he reaches out to grab the fluttering silk, twitching it closed on the music and lights and curious gazes of a few members of the crowd. The music is all but lost to us in this little space, and I have to squint until my eyes adjust in the dimness.

I wait impatiently for him to turn. He does soon enough, but slowly, making no move to start forward.

He stares at me, his eyes sweeping my frame. From the tight jeans showing slashes of white skin, the stupidly flimsy top that I'm suddenly glad I wore. My bare arms, my chest, sweeping up my neck to rest on my face but still avoiding my eyes. I shiver at the gaze I can feel settle over my body like an icy breath.

My head still feels dizzy, my thoughts clouded, but there is one thought that stands out, one thing that is clear to me above all else.

My hand raises on its own, and all I have to do consciously is incline my index finger, ever so slightly.

His eyes widen, but that is the only reaction. For a moment I think he's going to say no, my heart plummets and I feel my lips purse in a dejected pout.

I don't see him move, its been a while since I managed to miss any detail when I looked upon an object. But I miss this detail. One moment he's staring at me, shoulders slightly hunched, his eyes on my face, his bottom lip stuck between his teeth.

The next I'm in his arms.

I gasp as he hits me, stumbling back with the unexpected force. His arms encircle my waist a moment later, absorbing the impact and steadying my body before it can go down.

His hands don't waver. They slide under my shirt to trace the curve of my spine; as if he's being doing it for years and it's a familiar tradition between the two of us. We don't kiss, not right away, instead we stare at each other, our eyes locked, black meeting grey, our breaths mixing between us.

My hands go to his own shirt, clasping at the material, and then tugging it aside, slipping beneath it to trail over his stomach, inching along the hard flesh, sliding up his sides to trail over his ribs, which I can feel easily if I press. When I reach his ribs, my hands slide around, splaying across his back, digging in until his breath hitches.

I press him forward, and soon enough his lips fall against mine.

I gasp, feeling the warmth against my mouth, for a second confused. A small part of my brain screams at me. This shouldn't be happening, cant be happening. This isn't how its supposed to be. The larger part of my brain hisses at it to quiet.

I kiss back, one of my hands moving from his back to his neck, fingertips smoothing over the hot flesh, working into a fist at the base of his skull, gripping tight to his hair and making sure he doesn't move. It doesn't look like he wants to.

His hands move, disappearing from under my shirt to come up and grip my face, his palms cupping my cheeks, long fingers branching into my hair, or resting lightly on my temples, his thumbs smooth at my cheeks.

My eyes slide closed, too warm and content to do anything but feel. His mouth is warm against mine, his breath hot in my mouth, his stomach and chest clamped to mine like we cant bare to be even an inch apart. He holds me tightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to acknowledge I wont break like a fragile china doll.

He moves, and I have no choice but to move with him, unable to bring myself to pull away. He swings us around, and suddenly I'm trapped in a cage created by his body and the stone wall. My breaths come in pants now, but the possibility of breaking contact to gasp in fresh air seems like a foreign concept to me.

One of his hands moves from my face to my hair, pushing into the roots and twisting around the strands. His lips break off from mine, and I gasp, like I've just come up after being submerged in water.

As much as I love the sweet relief of breathing cool air again, I feel the thud of sadness deep in my chest at the absence of his lips on mine.

"Sebastian," I breathe, the word almost pleading.

I feel his lips again, not on my mouth where I want them, on my cheek this time, leaving small soft kisses that work their way from my cheek to my jaw, inching along the ridge of it and back again to sweep down my throat, I gasp as I feel his tongue against the nape of my neck. My hands work into his hair, gripping locks of it for balance, to keep myself anchored to the world while his actions cut at the strands tying me to the ground.

Thankfully, his tongue disappears from my skin, and I get a moment to breathe, until his lips are on my skin again, and then it feels like something has been shoved into my stomach and is lazily twisting up the organs there.

His lips work along my collarbones, both of them, until he pauses at the hollow beneath my throat, only for a moment, but after that moment is over one of his arms wraps around my waist, the other gripping one of my legs.

He lifts me, effortlessly, and I yelp in surprise as the world is turned on its side. I feel the cool ground beneath my shoulder blades, and I feel the weight of his body on mine.

I blow out a breath as his lips fall against my chest, working down slowly, until the shirt wont allow him to go any more, and then his hands are at my waist, tugging at the hem, sliding it up my body so it bunches around my ribs, his lips fall beneath the hem of it, brushing down the dip between my ribs. Working his way down to suck on the curves of my hips, I groan.

My hands are on his shoulders, gripping the material hard enough to tear, and I wince when I do hear the faint ripping sounds, but I cant find it in myself to let go. My breath hitches as I feel his hands on my thighs, and his mouth is at the waistband of my jeans, working along its edge.

My eyes swim, not with tears, with pure dizziness. I cant think straight, everything is a haze. Do I want this?

I frown, is this supposed to be happening? Is this what I usually do with people?

_NO! _a voice screams in my mind. I feel the haze working its way over me again, but something in my mind viciously pushes back.

_Think! _a voice yells at me, but then Sebastian's teeth graze my hipbone, and I cant help the moan that escapes me, too preoccupied with what he is doing to care about anything else.

_You do care about everything else! You don't care about this! Wake up, wake UP! _

"Ow" I breathe, my head pounding, as if someone is punching it from the inside.

"Did I hurt you?" Sebastian asks, his voice is breathless, and when he's finished talking his face falls against my stomach, where his panted breath skitters over my skin.

"No, no" I assure his sharp question.

"Good," his face turns to kiss my skin again, and then I feel the brush of his hands on my thighs, but they move upwards, and soon they grip the waistband of my jeans.

_Please, please think! _The voice in my mind cries, sounding frantic.

Sebastian's hands are at the buttons of my jeans, fumbling, struggling to see how to undo them, his face disappears from my stomach to focus on the buttons, all I can do is ball my hands at my sides, unsure, the voice tells me not too, but…

_Stop it! _the voice cries, directed towards Sebastian, I think. _Wake up! _it screams, as the top button pops open. _Wake UP! _it shrieks as the second comes undone.

_WAKE UP! _is its bellow as the zip slides down.

I gasp, feeling as if I've just been lobbed into a swimming pool in the dead of winter.

Everything is thrown into a sharp focus. The mist swirling around me is gone, I can hear the pound of the music outside the curtain again, the clatter of shoes on a hard surface. My eyes are returned to normal, I can see everything again, my head no longer woozy.

I sit up so suddenly my head swims, but my hand still manages to fly out to shove hard against Sebastian's shoulder. He topples backwards, his back slamming into the wall.

I rush to do up my jeans and yank my shirt back down, avoiding looking at him the whole time. When the shirt is safely covering me again, I finally look at him.

I expect him to look hurt, angry, confused even. But he doesn't, he only stares at me, gaze steady as he sits against the wall. The only sign of what we just did in his heaving chest and pink cheeks.

"I guess the drink wore off," he says finally. I realise then, he doesn't seem unsteady, not at all, nor dizzy, like I was just a moment ago.

"When did it stop affecting you?" I demand, and I feel my eyes flash, my hands tighten into fists.

He doesn't look away as he answers "Around the time we came into this room"

"You son of a bitch-" I growl, lunging at him, my hands extended to definitely wrap around his throat. But I'm still off balanced, and as I collide with him, he twists easily, clamping his arms around my waist to pin me to him. He pushes me back into the wall, and I fall back onto my ass. Sebastian looms over me, on his knees, hands clamped on my shoulders.

"You wanted me to!" he exclaims, I snort at him.

"While high on _drugs!_" I yell at him, gripping his wrists and kicking up my knee, which braces against his stomach.

I shove, and he tumbles back, onto his own ass in front of me. Seemingly unaffected, he frowns at me, like I'm a child having a tantrum.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to stop" he mutters, looking away, the blush has fallen from his cheeks, but his chest still heaves.

"Before or after you took off my trousers?!" I demand, staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Before!" he growls, clearly defiant of my accusations.

"You piece of shit" I shake my head at him, and stand, skirting around him to the table, where I snatch up my weapons belt to tug it around my waist. I shrug on my jacket with a huff.

I stomp to the door, intending to leave with a sweep of my hair, but before I can make my dramatic exit, Sebastian snags my hand. I don't look at him.

"I'm sorry" he mumbles, and I have to force myself not to look, to not meet those shining black eyes.

His hand drops, and mine flops back against my thigh.

I'm supposed to move, to stomp out like a bitch, but the truth is; I did want it. Even without the drugs now, I still feel his lips against my skin like a flutter of fire. A small part of my brain, which was in fact the larger part a moment ago, wants to sit back down with him, to forgive him completely and continue where we left off.

But the stubbornness within my heart is too much to ignore. I don't know him, I've heard terrible things about him. He's a tyrant, a villain. Capable of doing awful things.

_That didn't feel awful a moment ago. _A voice hisses at me in the back of my mind.

I dismiss it, rational now. I don't know him at all, but I know he's manipulative, and smart, I will not let him get to me.

But I cant leave it like this, I'm too polite, and too willing to do good to leave him sat on the floor.

So I glance down at him, but he's looking away, I see the rips in his shirt, above his shoulders where I gripped it too tight.

His head is bowed, the white skin at the back of his neck exposed. With a sigh, I let my fingers trail over his flesh. Warm, soft, just like he was a moment ago, so different than what everyone says about him. He stiffens.

"Me too" I murmur, before he can turn I spin on my heel, ducking through the silk curtain and shoving my way through the crowd in record timing.

People don't try to touch me now, noting the stomp in my step and the hardness of my eyes, the thin set of my mouth, as I shove past them. They probably catch the glint of silver as my jacket falls open. They give me a wide birth now.

I reach the doors quicker than expected, and I kick them open hard enough to make me wince, hoping they wont shatter, not really caring if they do.

I run down the hall, too wired up to walk. I yank the other doors open, and find the little goblin absent, good, I don't think I'd have been able to refrain from punching him.

When I tug on the final doors and stumble into the fresh air, I breathe a sigh of relief.

The cool air on my skin calms the violent fluttering of my heart. I gasp in the cooler air. It's stopped raining, but I would have been glad for the cleansing rain right now.

My sharp ears pick up the creak of hinges from within the hallway behind me, and I jump all of the steps, steep ones, high enough to make a shock of pain travel from the balls of my feet to my knees as I land.

I run across the street, dodging a car just in time as I step onto the pavement.

I duck into the alley I'd waited in earlier. Glad for the cover of darkness, familiar to me now, a comfort. It's something I can rely on.

I lean against the wall, my back to the entrance of the alley, not wanting to see any of the drunken partiers I can hear shrieking and bellowing.

I breathe deeply, catching my breath, getting ready to move on, to put the events behind me and move forward - like I always do.

Except, one event, the main one, creeps up on me in that exact moment.

I shriek as I feel the arm go around my waist, I throw out an elbow, familiar with this attack. But instead of smashing into a jaw or nose like it should of, I feel the palm that absorbs the blow, clamping down on my arm to stop me again.

"Don't" I feel the breath at my ear, and I growl in frustration, struggling, but he doesn't let go. And only one person would be able to hold on after I struggle this hard.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" he snaps in my ear as I kick back my heel, smirking as he yelps when it connects with his shin.

"Like you could, you absolute-" I start to snarl, but he snorts over the end of my sentence.

"Yeah, you're doing such a fantastic job of defending yourself now" I can hear the smirk in his voice.

I hiss, throwing back my head, but it doesn't connect like it almost always does. Maybe he does outmatch me. I shake the ridiculous thought free; nobody outmatches me.

"I'm sorry" he murmurs against my cheek, hot breath seeming to burn my flesh, I jerk away with a growl.

"If you're sorry, let me go" I stop struggling, knowing its futile, stupid to waste my energy now. I allow him to hold me up, and his arms become tight around my stomach.

"I cant" the words sound strained.

"Why?"

"Because I'm too selfish" it's a mutter against my hair.

"What do you mean?" I demand.

"I cant let you leave me," he sighs, and then he shoves me forward. I expect to just stumble, but instead I fall. I brace myself for the impact of the ground, but it doesn't arrive. I keep falling, into darkness, the one thing I could count on, now full of uncertainties.

I fall into the darkness, and after fighting viciously for only a moment, I give up, too exhausted to do anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

He stumbles, but only for a moment before righting himself quickly. The cold air stings his bare arms; he hadn't stopped to put on his sweater or collect his jacket before running after the girl.

He looks down at her now, sprawled on the damp grass, and winces. Thinking he probably should have caught her while tumbling through the portal, he guesses she won't appreciate bruises when she woke, and she won't be very calm when she does. He grimaces at the thought of that confrontation.

Sebastian stares at her, she'd fallen on her back, and her hair spills around her like a halo of fire. He doesn't think he has ever seen hair that curly or that orange. Her skin glowing in the darkness, like her own source of light, it shines like silver to him, although he is aware it probably wouldn't look like that to others.

Her eyelids flutter, but remain closed, guessing she is probably struggling against unconsciousness, he stoops to sweep his arms under her body to hoist her up. The weight is barely nothing in his hold.

He starts moving, steadily, not hindered at all by the girl hanging limp in his arms. Her head rolls, her cheek falling against his shoulder. He almost hisses at the contact, her touch burns through his shirt and scorches his skin like a lick of fire. He grits his teeth though, marching on with stubbornness, after all, he had made the decision to take her, he can live with a little pain - better than most in fact - even if it is a strange one.

He isn't moving for long, he'd gotten the portal as close as he deemed safe, far enough away that if he were to be tracked, no one would see the intended destination. Finally, after walking at a brisk pace through the grassy fields for about twenty minutes, the house looms up in front of him.

Rising from the point of a hill, like a dagger pointed at the sky. It looks large even from here, and dark, only one window on the second floor lit with a soft orange. The base of the hill is surrounded by about a miles worth of forest land. Sebastian tries not to flinch at the sight of it, it really isn't a welcome sight to him, but it is safe.

He quickens his pace, wanting to be out of the vast fields and into the dense forest, where he would feel a lot more sheltered. It doesn't take him long, what with his long strides and quick pace, half jogging, fast enough to keep the girl in his arms comfortable.

As soon as they pass under the cover of the trees, he slows, still a fast walk, but at least he doesn't have to jog and jostle the girl. His thoughts wander to her as he walks, or rather, he admits he was thinking about her. Ris's presence is like a prodding at the back of his brain, and he finds himself glancing down at her often, only fleeting glances, to assure himself she is still there, which is ridiculous he knows, considering he can feel her in his arms, but even so, he likes to see her slumbering face.

He is careful of her, extremely so. He takes the long way through the woods, following the beaten path that leads to the house rather than cutting through the trees, not wanting to carry her roughly, or risk her hair being caught. Halfway to the house, he realizes how stupid this decision is, worrying about her hair, when there is more than enough of it. He glances down at it now, spilling over his arm and falling in furious curls to bounce in mid-air, resting somewhere around his thigh. Why is it so long? He wonders, surely, considering her _'profession'_ he snorts at the term, the hairstyle is impractical. Maybe he would ask, of course, they would be spending some time together fairly soon.

He sighs, knowing he is in for a beating as soon as she woke.

It takes him longer working his way to the house than it did getting to the forest. He takes his time, unaffected by the darkness swirling in the depths of the trees. There is no moon tonight, nothing to see by, but he doesn't mind. He finds the darkness comforting, he knows he can see better than others. His eyesight is impeccable, thanks to the blood running through his veins. It assures him, being better than others. It is what he had been taught from a young age. To be the best.

The gates jump up ahead, massive black things, designed for keeping out and keeping in. When he reaches it, he manages to balance Ris awkwardly in one arm, and sweep his stele from his belt, quickly tracing a rune, which causes the gates to swing open with a creak.

He moves her again, gently, starting as she gives a small, almost undetectable gasp. He can see her eyes moving under her lids, and wonders briefly what she is seeing, if she is dreaming. He wonders if she is dreaming of him, and what he did to her. He shakes the thought free, cursing himself.

The gates swing closed behind the boy and girl, and the cold breeze accompanies Sebastian to the large doors of the mansion, tugging him along insistently. He kicks open the door gratefully, glad of the warmth inside the mansion. It is probably colder than most homes, but he is used to it, even when he was a child, no more than three or four rooms were used at a time, and even with fires lit in there, the rooms had been cold. Temperature rarely affected him anymore.

As soon as the door slams, he glances around worriedly, and winces as a circle of light flickers against the wall at the top of the staircase directly opposite. He waits, knowing it would not do any good to sneak past, she'd only hunt him down.

"Sebastian?" comes the throaty call.

"Its me," he replies, and then the shadow that had been expanding on the wall becomes solid, and the older woman stomps into view, her bulbous frame even larger beneath the straining material of her long nightgown.

"What the heck time do ya call this, then?" Matilda growls, her chubby fingers holding tight to the candle wick she holds aloft. She squints down at him, little nose scrunching as she strains to see through the darkness. He sighs, and steps into the range of the flickering light.

"Oh dear lord" she gasps, tottering down a few steps to peer at the bundle in his arms. "Is the wee lass...?" her thick Scottish accent has faded somewhat over the years of being far from her home, but some phrases continue to slip in now and then.

"No," his answer is sharp, and he softens his tone at the hurt look from Matilda. "Can you light a fire in one of the bedrooms? I'll lay her down"

"Aye" she sighs, and after throwing him a sharp look, she turns on her heel to wobble up the stairs, and after a moment, where he waits so he can be at a safe distance from her large behind, he climbs the stairs leading to the second floor. The hallway here is long, and dark, lit only by Matilda's feeble flame. They pass her bedroom, where a fire roars in the fireplace, and a book falls open on her dresser, and her sheets are twisted, tossed aside as she had stumbled quickly from her bed.

"Will this one do?" Matilda turns to eye him warily, he looks up from where he'd been looking down at Ris, who's fluttering lids has began to quiver, little sounds emit from her every couple of seconds. Mumbled words too quiet even for Sebastian to hear. He glances into the room, large, with an impressive bay window occupying most of the opposite wall. The bed looks a little dusty, but as he watches Matilda tugs them from the thick mattress. The bed is a fourposter, he wonders if she would like it.

He scowls at himself, of _course_ she wont like it, she wont like anything. Because she doesn't want to be here. The thought makes his insides burn with annoyance, and he stomps into the room regardless, not caring if the view of the forest behind the large stone wall is a nice one, not caring that Matilda is watching him with raised eyebrows.

When he throws a sharp look at Matilda, she swiftly turns to the fire, and within a couple of seconds he hears the whispers of crackles from the burning of the wood. It won't take too long to become warm.

Ris makes another noise, something between a gasp and a moan, and with a frown he sets her down on the surface of the bed, gently. A stray curl falls across his cheek just as he is about to move away. Seeing it, balancing there, causes him to step forward again, his fingertips brush her pale cheekbone, shifting the curl into the curtain of hair resting against the nape of her neck and spilling onto the white sheets around her.

His fingertips stay against her cheek for a moment too long, but he doesn't care. The warmth of her feels like fireworks against his skin, but he doesn't care about that either. Only when she shifts her head, her small pale hands clenching on the sheets that cushion her, does he pull away.

He glances at Matilda, who is staring at him, open-mouthed.

"What?" he snaps.

"You-" she looks with her large green eyes between Sebastian and his captive. She can see clearly the inky cold look he is giving her, daring her to ask, so she sighs and shakes her head. "I'm going back to bed" she grumbles, stomping to the door "And if that lass gives you a clout when she wakes, don't come crying to me" she glares at him, until she turns to slam the door behind her.

He shakes his head, sighing at the woman who'd practically raised him. Although she couldn't shield him from Valentine's influence, as much as she'd tried. He'd been terrible to her too, but she'd never left. The only one who hadn't.

He glances down at Ris, yet again. She looks tiny, lying spreadeagled on the bed, her hair spilling around her. Almost like a child. Although she isn't, a fact he is quiet aware of.

Sebastian moves towards her, and tentatively, and then more surely, his hands go to her jacket. He tugs the zip down, and removes the heavy thing with some difficulty, sliding it from her shoulders and working it carefully from her arms, sliding it beneath her body until he manages to pull it from beneath her knees. Seeing the top that adorns her torso, sleeveless, black, pulling in at the waist and sticking to her frame, makes him gulp. The memories wash back, his hands sliding under that shirt, inching up her back and memorizing her spine. Pushing it up, all the way to her ribs, so he could kiss her there, more gently than he had ever touched anyone before. He glances away, feeling the heat rising in his cheeks, scowling at the sensation.

He reaches forward again, this time fumbling at her weapons belt, wrapped around the delicate waist. He pulls it free, careful not to graze her with any of the weapons hanging there. She doesn't have a stele, he notices, even though she could use one if she wanted to. All of her weapons are for close range fighting, he realises. Except maybe the long, thin throwing knives, but those can be used up close too.

He leaves the jacket and the belt on the bedside table, where Matilda had lit the small, old fashioned lamp. He moves to her feet, thinking she probably wont be comfortable with converse on. He undoes them, being sure not to jostle her, placing one shoe after the other on the floor by the foot of the bed quietly, replacing her small feet, covered in blue socks, with care.

He finally steps back, looking down at her, she looks better like this, not so closed in by the leather jacket. He looks around, spots the high backed chair in the corner of the room by the fire, and the blanket draped over the back of it. He retrieves it, quickly shaking it out, before spreading it over her. There's nothing more for him to do, so he sighs and turns.

Moving silently to the door, pausing to pick up the jacket and weapons on the way passed, he quickly pulls the door open. Sebastian looks back at her, his captive, one more time. Before slipping from the room quietly, to go and wait for her to hunt him down.


	3. Chapter 3

_I was in the dark, and it was cold. _

_The trees rising around me creaked in the winter breeze, the hollow sounds vibrating through my being and striking something within me that had me gasping in utter terror. _

_My small body, smaller than it should be, too small to mean anything, shuddered. My thin arms, too thin, wrapped around my ribs, easily felt beneath the flimsy material of my nightgown._

_I rubbed the bump in my cheek, swollen now, still throbbing a little. I heaved a sigh, and stopped when it hurt my sides. _

_The cold bit at my body, causing me to shiver, so hard it felt like someone was pressing their booted foot into my chest. The cold had my teeth chattering, turning my limbs white, too white. Human's weren't supposed to be this colour. I hissed as my bare heel sunk into something sharp, I glanced down instinctively and realised I would not see anything; it had been snowing, the ground marred only by the small footprints I left in my wake. _

_My heel was bleeding, crimson seeping into the snow and staining it, ridding it of its beauty. I sighed, I ruined everything. _

_I turned again, and carried on walking, knowing that if I didn't, I would freeze. I had to move, move or freeze. _

_Freezing would have been less tiresome, I thought with frustration. _

_It was a long time later, when the snow had started to fall again, had started to coat my orange hair, that I finally fell. _

_I'd fallen many a time, only to get back up with the resolution that if I didn't, I would die. Then, I fell, face first, into the middle of a clearing in the trees. The darkness didn't scare me, it rarely had as a child. The darkness was a friend, a companion. It was the one thing that had protected me, hidden me when I needed to be hidden. It was the one thing I could not break or ruin. _

_Anyway, it wasn't really dark, the moon peeked through an opening in the thick blanket of clouds. It shone down on me, feeling better than the sun would have, warming my skin. It felt like I was being blessed, even though I knew I didn't deserve that. _

_This time when I fell, my hands catching on the rough ground, I could not get up. My arms shook as they held me aloft, and I did try to stand, but just getting to my haunches, my legs wobbled, and then collapsed. I gritted my teeth as my knees hit the ground hard, yet again, and then, I slumped down, onto my side. The snow cushioned me in its icy grip, pillowing my sore body. The cold easing the aches into numbness, and that was the most I could hope for. _

_The shakes came regularly now, hitting my body in waves, making me curl tighter and tighter in on myself, until I was so small my hair could cover my whole body, and spreading the mass of curls over me felt as luscious as a woolen blanket. I was just a little ball of orange curls and blue limbs, ready to die in the cold. _

_After all, what did I have to go back for? Nothing, was the certain answer. _

_My eyes drooped, and I could almost feel my heartbeat slowing. Of course, my chest was pressed to three other parts of my body, which is how I knew, knew my body had finally had enough. That the life was draining from me, and I was watching it pass, waving leisurely as it floated by. _

_I wiggled my head just a little. Creating a small gap for my eyes, which I directed to the sky, blinking slowly as the snow tried to settle on my cornea, - a name I had learned in a science book only a few days ago - but got caught up in my lashes. _

_The sky looked lovely. The clouds weren't the bad kind, grey and round and threatening rain. No, these were the kind you saw on a summer day, where even the sky seemed to be celebrating. They were thick, pure white, and fluffy, like the stuff that came from inside your mattress. Designed to cushion you, to guide you peacefully into a dreamlike state that had you seeing pretty pictures and vibrant colours in the depths of your imagination. _

_ The darkness that held these clouds aloft was as certain as always, black, deep, unforgiving. But not scary, not to me. I imagined flying up there, on a ship constructed by human hands and brilliant minds. Or with wings attached to my back, constructed from the darkness I belonged to. I imagined passing the Earth's atmosphere. Dodging the artificial satellites, flying past the space junk, then the moon. Whizzing past Mars, the red planet, named after the Roman god of war. Laughing as I danced between the meteor belt, then the other planets, fighting against Jupiter's gravity. Snorting as I broke free easily. _

_Then out of this solar system all together. _

_To a far off world, buried in the depths of a constellation so beautiful it hurt my eyes. There I would go, and the people would be wonderful. Where it didn't matter if you weren't beautiful, because you were perfect. Where the slightness of your body didn't matter, where the genders were equal in all measures, where everyone could fight, where everyone was important. There would be faeries, and there would be mermaids, and knights, and angels and even vampires and werewolves. And I would be one of them, not a magical creature. Nope, just a normal girl. But with the ability to fight back, to lead, to do whatever I wanted. And they would accept it, with ease and graciousness, because they would love me. _

_The snapping of a twig shocked me from my reverie, and I cursed the cold, the noises had been causing the wood to snap all night, scaring me at every turn. The wood could not take the sudden change in temperature. It came again, but I was ready this time, and didn't jump. _

_My eyelids were heavy, and only then did I realise I had been fighting to keep them open, I hadn't even noticed. I allowed them to slide closed, too tired to deny my body and its needs. _

_But then warmth flooded over my body, and through a haze of drowsiness I opened my eyes, and found the sky obscured. Black was in the way, a thick black blanket that covered my body entirely. Weight fell against me, enough to make me gasp, but not enough to hurt, and my feeble hands pushed, and found a solid mass of muscle, a moving chest, a heartbeat so strong it thudded into my fingertips. _

_I gasped, and pushed, against whatever was atop me, definitely not human. There was a growl, a dog-like sound that was low and dangerous in my ear. It made me shake, not with the cold, with fear. But then I realised, the cold was disappearing, chased away by the layer of animal stretched on top of me. I felt the damp as the snow melted beneath me, whatever was lying on me was _hot.

_Then the haze was there again, working into my mind, turning my limbs to lead, my ability to move at all deserted me, and my arms fell limply to my sides. My eyelids fluttered, and whatever was lying on top of me shifted, just slightly, and I felt the light warm breath against the nape of my neck, and shuddered. I saw a flash of yellow eyes, before my eyelids grew too heavy to prop open, and I fell._

I gasp as I wrench myself from the darkness, my insides aching at the dream. I press the heels of my hands into my eye sockets, quenching the tears into nothingness. I will not cry, not right now.

I feel the bed beneath me, the plush feel of it beneath my backside, and glance around, remembering; I am in enemy territory. I am lying in a fourposter bed, made of a dark wood. There is a dark blanket over me, which I kick off. I swing my legs over the side, planting my socked feet on the wooden floor, dark too. The room is quite large, spacious, with wooden walls and a large bay window dominating the right wall.

I stand, moving to that window. It is at least two stories from the ground, the drop a good ten meters . I could land that, easily. Directly beneath the window is grass, a stretch of it going on for about five meters, until coming to a wall, grey stone, at least twenty meters in the air, uncharacteristically high for guarding a house. Beyond that, trees. A forest of them, its still dark out, whether a new night or the same one, I don't know.

I turn, glancing at the large, pretty mantelpiece on the north wall, made of marble, or white stone. Stood century over a fire, which flickers and lights the room with a soft orange glow and a warm atmosphere that has me rubbing my arms in appreciation. I look to the door, mahogany, I think, I wonder if its locked.

I cross to it and tug on the handle, which gives a click and swings open easily. Interesting.

I step out, glancing down the long hall that goes horizontal to my door. I search for Sebastian, knowing he must be around here somewhere. I inch into the open space, my hands flexing, muscles tensing for a fight.

I start forward, searching for him, for the mere purpose of kicking his ass. The hallway is a good one, with a thick vintage carpet lining the middle of the wooden floor. Tapestries and classic pictures hanging from the wooden walls, a table with a vase of blue forget-me-not's pushed against the wall as I reach a landing, a grand staircase stretching down into a wide entry hall to the right. I glance over the banister, searching for Sebastian.

A plump woman wobbles from a large doorway off to the left of the entry hall so suddenly and I gasp and jump up straight, glaring at her suspiciously.

"Oh, wee child" she coos up at me, she's got dark hair, long, pulled into an elegant twist on her head. Mid-fifties maybe. Very large, she's holding a tray in her hands, and a long, floor length dress with an apron wrapped around her middle. Her accent is faintly Scottish.

"Hello?" I almost stutter, because I didn't expect a maid, or house keeper, or whatever she is. She smiles at my almost definite dumbfounded expression.

"Matilda, deary. I look after the place" she grins with a set of straight, white teeth. She lifts the tray marginally "I was going to bring you tea."

"Actually, Matilda" I smile cautiously, because she does seem harmless enough, and there's no scent off her. No metallic pang of blood for a vampire, no musty essence of a werewolf, nothing. "I was looking for Sebastian"

"Naturally" she shakes her head "You gonna beat him up?"

"Yes" I nod, firmly.

"Oh," she smiles at me widely "Well, good then. Once you're done come to the kitchen and I'll make sure you get fed. You're skin and bones" she laughs at me heartily, and disappears back into the kitchen. I snort, already liking her.

Her heart shaped face appears around the corner of the door again "Oh, lass, what was your name, again?"

"Ris" I answer, polite now.

"Ris," she repeats, purses her lips "I like it" she decides, and smiles at me with glittering eyes "He's in the training room, third floor" she grins.

"Thanks, Matilda" I grin right back, and she laughs, turning to leave. I turn too, not having to look for the stairs, they're right in front of me, another large staircase leading directly up, I move quickly.

I hear the dull thuds, and move to the right side of the hallway, an almost exact replica of the one downstairs, before pausing just outside a large wooden door.

Pushing open the door, I peer around the little opening to let my eyes sweep the room. It's large, larger than any I've seen so far. The whole back wall consists of impressive glass windows. A large mat area in the middle of the room. Weapons lining the walls. Various work-out stations positioned around the room. A chandelier hangs above the mat area, and where there would have been candles, witchlight stones are nestled comfortably. They are set down low however, and shadows cloud my view of the far corners of the room.

I find him easily enough, in the back corner, hidden only marginally by the shadows. He's punching away at a large, worn bag.

He must not be hitting it that hard, because it sways only a little. Still, he's shirtless, and my eyes are sharp enough to spot the sweat that gleams against his skin, throwing off flashes where the witchlight catches. The muscles in his back work, rippling beneath the pale skin, his black trousers hang low on his hips, and I scowl as I spot two delicate dimples at the base of his spine.

I don't think he hears me, but then, he seems to be concentrating hard, and I think he may be trying to ignore me.

I step into the room, and wince when a brazier above the door, holding a witchlight stone within it, throws my shadow ahead of me. I ignore it though, and move to the wall to my left. I pick a long, sharp dagger from the wall and heft it in my hand.

Moving to the mat, the sounds of my steps absorbed by my socks, I grip the handle of the knife lightly in my palm. I shift it only a little, and a moment later, I lift my arm, squint, although that isn't needed, and _flick._

The knife flies, straight and true, spinning end over end, fast enough to make me dizzy, right towards Sebastian.


	4. Chapter 4

The knife's edge buries deep into the punching bag, creating a small _thud _as the hilt collides with the thick skin. Sebastian whirls, eyes wide as he finds me.

"Hi, Sebastian" I smile at him cheerfully, and he frowns, suspicion evident on his face. His black eyes fall to the second dagger in my hand, held lightly, casually.

"Ris" he greets me, eyes narrowed.

He starts forward, removing the thin boxing gloves from his hands. I expect him to be breathing heavily, but his chest is steady. There is a red rune above his heart, faded now, a mass of angry swirls, I don't have to wonder where it came from. It was a large occasion in the demon world. The runes over his torso are stark against his white skin.

"Ah, ah, ah" I coo, holding the knife aloft "Don't think I wont drive this through your heart, you absolute bastard"

He comes to a halt at the edge of the mat. His high cheek bones are flushed, and his light hair is plastered to his temples and forehead.

"There wouldn't be any point" he shrugs, but keeps his eyes trained on me "You wouldn't be able to leave the house, you'd just die here" he grins when I grit my teeth.

"I already saw Matilda." I frown at him "She'd let me out"

Sebastian snorts harshly "I cast a spell, Ris. Well, rather, I had a friend do it for me" his smile is wicked "Not even Matilda knows how to get out. Not unless I let her"

"So you'd let her die here too?" I hiss at him.

"She's expendable" he shrugs, again, and the muscles in his shoulders ripple.

"You're incredible" I shake my head, appalled.

"Thank you" he smirks, I bare my teeth at him, hissing.

I quickly run over my options in my head. I don't doubt at all he's hidden the exit. He would be an idiot not to. Killing him would be stupid, completely foolish. But what if he's lying? It wouldn't surprise me; he's the type to save his own skin, and the knife in my hand is steady, he knows for certain I am not beyond cold blooded killing.

But of course, there is a chance he could be telling the truth. That will be a problem.

I feel hatred boiling through my veins. Fine, I can't kill him, but that doesn't mean I cant _hurt _him.

The knife is flying from my hand before I even think to throw it. Sebastian sees it coming, easily, like I knew he would, and he ducks, almost lazily.

But his eyes stay on the knife, and I'm running just as it flies past his head.

His eyes focus on me, and he has time to let his eyes grow wide before my fist connects with his jaw. He grunts, his head falling to the side, just as I lift my foot, and it connects with his ribs. A sharp stab of pain flares in my ankle, but I don't care. Not at all.

"You." I punch him in the stomach "Son." I kick him in the thigh "Of" I punch him in the jaw "A" I elbow him in the chest "Bitch" I end it with a headbutt to his nose.

I hear him wheeze, and as I lift my aching fist to ram it into his nose again, to break it this time, not just pop it, but he catches my fist, squeezes and twists.

I gasp, twisting to avoid the breaking of my bone. I end up with my arm twisted up behind my back, and his large warm hand is wrapped around my throat, his breath heavy in my ear.

"Stop" he pants "Where is this going to get you?" he draws in a sharp breath "Your life here needn't be a terrible one"

"Oh, how wonderful of you to offer that" I snarl, and grab his wrist with my free hand.

I yank and bend forward, too quickly for him to keep his balance, and he flips over my body with a yelp, sprawling onto the floor in front of me, his bare back slapping against the plastic mat with a stinging sound.

I twist too, letting my body come down on top of his, my knees either side of his hips, and I continue to jam my forearm into his throat. His nose is bleeding, and there's a red mark on his jaw.

He struggles, and I grit my teeth as he pushes against my stomach, his fingers digging into my flesh. It hurts, and I have to let my hold on his throat go to grip his wrists and slam them down into the mat, either side of his head. He struggles, but I squeeze, and when he realises I will definitely snap his wrists, he stops.

"Do not kid yourself, Jonathon Morgenstern" I snarl "I _am _stronger than you,_ and_ more powerful a_nd _more skilled."

"Too bad that doesn't matter." he snarls, and his lovely face is twisted into a furious mask, clearly, he isn't beaten often. Our fight lasted all of twenty seconds. "You wont get out" he gives a chuckle, which he quickly strangles when I squeeze even harder, he grits his teeth.

"I wont kill you, Sebastian." I growl "Quite frankly I don't even want to" his eyes widen.

"Why?" he asks, looking genuinely intrigued, the anger slips from his face as quickly as it came "I kidnapped you"

"I'm quite aware" I roll my eyes sarcastically, and he smirks. My concentration lapses for just a moment, but Sebastian seizes the opportunity immediately. His hips jerk up into me, and he twists.

I yelp as I'm thrown off balance, and suddenly I'm caught between the mat and Sebastian's body, so much bigger than mine. Science dictates, with all that muscle, he should be so much stronger than I. If he wasn't pinning me down, I'd have smirked. His nose is still bleeding, and the blood drops from his upper lip so splatter against the chest of my shirt. I growl.

"Sorry" he shrugs, as his hands splay on the mat either side of my face, his body becoming a cage around me "I'm more of an 'on top' kind of guy" he laughs at my disgusted face.

"I bet you are" I grumble, irritated. My mind helpfully drags me back to the night before, his body covering mine like a blanket as we kissed. My cheeks colour, I can feel the heat rushing to my face, and I try to twist my head so he doesn't see. He must, from his quiet chuckle.

I gasp as I feel his lips at my throat, brushing, not really kissing, the spot just beneath my earlobe. My stomach gurgles, and I feel the colour glowing against my skin, no dim lights to hide it now. His hands flutter at my waist, and I have to close my eyes against the gentle touches.

"I'm experiencing some very strong deja vu" he murmurs against my collarbone.

I growl, and my hands go to his shoulders, my muscles ache, but I manage to shove him back in an effortless looking manner. He isn't holding on, and so I manage to sit up and propel him away from me.

"Me too" I narrow my eyes as he sprawls onto his ass. He chuckles, but doesn't try to advance again, instead he rests his elbows on his knees and tilts his head to the side, inspecting me with curious eyes. He wipes casually at the blood that's still sliding from his nose.

"You didn't answer the question" he tells me after a moment of silence, looking up from where he was smearing the blood from his thumb onto his dark jeans.

"Oh," I frown "I don't want to kill you, well because..." I sigh "We're the same. Well, not the same. We are both very unique in the same way. You are the only person to ever come anywhere near being like me"

"So you don't want to kill me because we're both evil?" he raises pale eyebrows, managing to make that one movement look sarky and sarcastic. I feel my hand tingling, itching to slap him one.

"No!" I growl, frustrated "I'm not evil. I'm bad yes; I'm a terrible person. But I don't go out of my way to be that. I _try _to be good. That is where we are different."

"Well, thanks for that redefining comment" he rolls his eyes and pushes himself to his feet. I stand a moment later, glaring at him as I do. "Are you staying?"

"So I can beat you again?" I snap back, his jaw tightens, and I grin at him viciously.

"You may be good at hand to hand combat, but I doubt you could beat me when it comes to skills with weapons" he thrusts his chin in the air, grinning broadly.

"You know, Sebastian?" I turn to scoop up one of the thin boxing gloves he'd dropped at the edge of the mat earlier. "The worst thing you can do while I'm here," I glance at him, to see him frowning suspiciously "Is challenge me" my grin is as every bit as wicked as his.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, alright!" Sebastian gasps, he stumbles, and I grin.

"You surrendering?" I ask, my own voice is gravelly, half choked, sweat coats my entire body, sticking my shirt to my chest and back, not that I care about looking decent around my captor.

"Yes," he gives a groan, rolling his toned shoulders around and around. Already angry blotches have started to appear all over his torso, moving from a flushed red and darkening into violent bruises. I'm sure if I lifted my own shirt, I'd find the same, although not nearly as many. "Here" he reaches over, catching my wrist and seizing the knot on the back of my hand that keeps the long strips of fabric in place. We didn't use gloves, both too stubborn to admit we could be hurt by each other. I let him complete the task, seeing as I'd let him roll the fabric around my hands in the first place. His hold is light, and he doesn't seem to be irritated about the fact I've beaten him.

I extend my hands, now free of the fabric, towards his. He allows me to undo the knots and unwind the material, a deep black. Mind had been blue. I don't meet his eyes as I complete the task, but I feel his gaze on me. He moves off to the window ledge, positioned far in the corner of the room, far out the way of any equipment. He lies the fabric on top of that, and picks up something else there.

He holds it out to me, and I move forward to take it, his blonde hair is still damp. When I take what he's holding, I realize it's a black shirt.

"Don't you...?" I trail off when he shakes his head.

"I'll have to get you clothes, but you can wear that for now, considering you're all sweaty" he grins at me with mischief "Or you could keep that blouse on... it looks even better sticking to your body like that" he smiles at me slowly. I aim a punch, a hard one, but he smoothly dodges, giving a light chuckle.

He moves past me, so I quickly tug my shirt over my head, wincing as it peels away. When I hold it in my hand, I find a dry patch, quite a difficult feat, and rub at my chest and stomach, clearing away the sweat as best I can. When I am relatively dry, I yank on his shirt, which falls way past my ass and to the middle of my thighs, covering down to my elbows. Considering its length, I shuck my jeans and kick them from my feet. I glance down, breathing a sigh of relief, it covers me fine.

I turn, and find Sebastian watch me carefully with very dark eyes.

"Creep" I chuck my jeans at him, because its the only thing I have in my hands. He lets them hit him square in the chest, and catches them as they fall. Clutching them at the waist, he plucks at one of the rips, stationed around the thigh. Not the easiest things to fight in.

"I really do love these jeans" he gives a wistful sigh, and I glare. I remember last night, his insistent hands on the buttons of those jeans. I can see from the way his grin spreads slowly across his lips that he is remembering too.

"You_ are_ a creep" I shake my head, scowling as I cross my arms over my chest.

"Through and through, darling" he tells me, his voice low. Then he jerks his head over his shoulder, towards the door "Come on, you should eat."

He turns, and doesn't bother to check if I follow. Probably doesn't need to, he can almost definitely hear my footsteps. Just like I'd be able to follow his if my eyes were closed.

I catch up to him as we descend the first flight of stairs leading down "Matilda said she'd cook me something"

"She's good like that" Sebastian says, but his voice is cool, devoid of emotion. He's quite blunt.

"Why does she still live here?" I ask as we move down the second flight of steps "Can't you cook?" I arch an eyebrow sarcastically.

"I can actually," he gives me a patronizing smile "I learnt when I was younger"

"Between learning how to cut throats and set fire to cities?"

"Precisely" he chuckles.

Once we're on the ground floor, we have two options, angle to the left and across the large hall to a broad doorway, the same one I saw Matilda go through earlier. The other option is to angle to the right, with a similar large doorway. We turn to the left, and as soon as we pass through the doorway, we enter an expansive kitchen, with an island in the middle of it, and two large fridges off to the side. A large window is stationed above the sink.

"Take a seat" Sebastian waves to one of the stools next to the marble island.

"Where's Matilda?" I ask him. He checks a clock on the wall, which reads 9:00. A quick check out the large window and I confirm that's in the PM.

"Probably gone to a pub for a game of bingo, right around now" he shrugs.

"There's a pub around here?" my voice is sharp.

"Don't worry, you wont be able to see it from any windows" his grin is wicked "And you wouldn't be able to find it if you broke out, which you wont"

"It wasn't that," I growl at him, pushing stubborn curls from my face "I just thought, well, I thought we'd be deep in the wilderness or something" I shrug. He laughs.

"You thought I'd be bringing you back to an underground lair?" there is definitely a sneer to his face now.

"Shut up" I snarl at him, and that just makes him laugh more. I sigh with irritation.

"What do you want?" he finally chuckles, his smile is bright, as are his eyes. I shrug, "Cereal... pasta..." he rummages through a fridge "Hmm, omelets?"

"That's all you can do?" I snort, he scowls.

"It's all we've got in, not all I can_ make_" he narrows his eyes, and I chuckle. My eyes catch a little box as he opens what appears to be the cereal cupboard.

"I'll have some pop tarts" I point to the box.

"They're mine" he says, he levels a narrowed eyed gaze at me.

"Then I'll have two packets" I smile at him cheerily.

"Get lost" he spits.

"I'll fight you for them" I smirk, he growls.

"No way," his voice is firm.

I stand, and then I'm right in front of him, and he's pressed back into the counter by my body. I arch my neck towards him, my hands sliding up around his neck, pulling him down towards me. His head dips automatically, and his eyes are very large. His breath comes out in a surprised whoosh, and then his hands are on my waist, bunching the material of my shirt in his closed fists.

My hand snags the box behind him, and I whirl away when it's clutched in my hand. I spot his expression, a flash of hurt passes his face, but I flee, moving in a blur back to my seat. When I look at him again, his face is smooth, devoid of emotion, if only a little irritation.

"You're a cruel girl, Ris" he tells me, his tone light, but his eyes are dark, almost... hostile. I suppose he doesn't take rejection well.

"Through and through, darling" I grin at him as I crack open a packet of pop tarts. He cracks a small smile at my comment, remembering what he said earlier. I wonder if I'm forgiven.

Sebastian takes a seat next to me and reaches for a packet of pop tarts. I'm already biting into mine, I don't bother heating it up, although I see a toaster in clear view.

Its only a few moments later when I have to ask.

"I saw those scars on your back" he doesn't look at me.

"Did you?" he asks incredulously, his tone light.

"How'd you get them?" I lean towards him, just a little, he still wont look at me.

"My childhood was... unforgiving" he turns to me with a smile that has turned gentle "I saw those scars on your back" he mimics my tone of voice. I don't reply "How'd you get them?" I watch his hand twitch, and for a moment I think he's going to reach over and touch me, we're not that far away. But I guess he thinks better of it, because his hand stills on the counter.

"My childhood was also unforgiving" I smile back at him, and for a moment we are the same. He isn't evil, I'm not struggling to be good. He isn't part demon, and neither am I. As our eyes meet, for a moment, we are stripped down to our bare minimum. For a moment, we are nothing but little children, broken and alone, facing each other, smiling at a chance to not be so alone anymore.

"Your mother or father?" I already know the answer, but I ask anyway.

The spell is broken, and Sebastian is looking away, he's put down his pop tart, and his hands are clenched on top of the counter. His jaw has become a hard, straight line.

"Father. Valentine..." Sebastian looks away, but his eyes are soon planted back on my face "He wanted me to be the best. He thought violence would appeal to my nature." I nod, acknowledging this, not knowing how to answer "Mother or father?" he raises his chin questioningly.

"Step-father" I shrug, pulling a face.

"Finally I know something about you" he gives a grin, but it doesn't quite meet his brooding gaze. I shrug again "Where does he live?" the question is supposed to be a light one, casual, but the menace is clear in his gaze.

"You can't kill him for me, Sebastian" I turn a grin on him.

"Wasn't going to" he shrugs, a definite disappointed edge to his tone. He glances down at me a moment later and there's an amused grin planted on his lips. Obviously he was thinking about it.

"Thanks for the thought" I suppose it is sweet, coming from him. Of course, a normal girl wouldn't have been warmed at the thought of a boy offering to kill for her, and by the look in his eyes the killing would not have been swift or merciful. A normal girl would get up and run. A normal guy wouldn't have offered. But this is Sebastian and both of us have the blood of violence running through our veins.

"No worries, darling" his eyes twinkle with amusement "Where is he then?"

"Dead," I tell him in a stage whisper.

"You killed him?" he asks, whispering back, leaning forward, his blonde hair falls into his eyes. He's smirking.

"You think I would have allowed someone to live after that?" I arch an incredulous eyebrow.

"Considering your career path, I wouldn't count on it" he chuckles, his voice is low, coming from the back of his throat. I smile at his comment.

"I should go to bed" I tell him, standing from my seat. He rises too, and then he seizes the box of pop tarts and pushes them into my hand.

"Here," he doesn't look at me as he hands me the box "I can get more, if you like them"

"Yeah," I nod, "Strawberry is my favourite" I glance down at the chocolate ones in my hand "Chocolate is good too though" I shrug.

"Good" awkwardness hangs in the air between us. "I'll get Matilda to bring you bed sheets, and you can tell her whatever else you need. I'll make sure you get it"

"Thank you." its hard to say those two words, considering he brought me here, trapped me. This is his fault. But still, I have manners.

"Goodnight" he calls over his shoulder as I get to the door.

"Goodnight" I reply, disappearing quickly, I don't look back at him.


	6. Chapter 6

It has been a week.

At least, I'm pretty sure it is, although my sleeping pattern is quite messed up right now. I've spent the whole time in my room, doing nothing. Considering there's a bathroom attached to this room, I really don't need to leave. My first night here I decided I wouldn't willingly be around Sebastian, he kidnapped me after all, and the less I was around him the better.

Matilda is the only one I see, she comes in to wake me up most days, bringing eggs and toast or pancakes or pop tarts. She brings me fresh clothes, usually Sebastian's clothes really. Just shirts of his that are folded neatly. She asks if I'll be leaving my room today, to which I usually just say no, and then at dinner time she brings me a shirt to lounge around in all day.

She brings me books as well, I don't know where she gets them, but considering there really is nothing to do, I curl up in the rocking chair near the fire and read all day. I finish most of the books within a couple of hours, and she curses me when she comes in to find me moaning about having nothing to do. She starts to bring me larger and larger books.

"Can't I just have a computer or something?" I demand on the seventh day of my captivity. "I can smell the wifi in the air"

"Sebastian doesn't want you contacting anyone, lass" she tells me gruffly as she stocks the fire.

"Who the hell am I going to contact? The internet police?" I snort "Yes, hello officer, I've been kidnapped by a deranged psychopath demon hybrid who has me walled up in his mansion in the middle of no where. I don't mean to bother you but I cant get out because one of his demon buddies has cast a spell on the house and hidden the exit. I wouldn't mind but his house keeper scares me, she's really quite aggressive and her cooking is meager at best"

"Oi!" she swipes at me, and I duck with a laugh. "My cooking is legendary"

"I totally agree" I tell her earnestly, fearing she'll take another swipe at me with her paw hands. "But I'm going to die of boredom, what does he even want with me, Matilda? Cant you just ask him?"

"I'll ask, lassy, but don't expect no answer from that boy" she sighs and disappears, yesterdays washing clutched in her arms.

I curl up into my chair again, even though its made of wood I'm sure its got an ass shaped dent in it now, considering how often I sit here. I angle it towards the fire, flicking open the new book. An old one, the pages wrinkled with age. It's smell is delicious.

Its a little later when I hear the door creak open. The soft sigh of feet against the floorboards. I don't acknowledge the sound, because a normal human would never have been able to pick it up. Instead I control my body into staying still, and wait for him to announce his presence.

He doesn't though, and I grow increasingly agitated. Is he just going to stare at me? I continue reading nonetheless, drowning out his presence with the words I cherish so much. I almost manage to forget him, but finally it becomes too much.

"Are you just going to stand there?" I ask, my voice casual.

"How long have you known?" his voice is almost a welcome sound to my ears, they've heard nothing but the crackle of the fire, the creak of this chair and the deep voice of Matilda. To hear his voice, as smooth as silk and as soft as a steady stream; its like music.

"Since you walked in the door" I shrug, I don't turn to look at him.

"Sorry" I almost cant believe its really him, when did Sebastian Morgenstern start to apologize? "I could watch you read for hours"

I do turn to look at him then, twisting in my chair to glance at him. He's leant against one of the bedposts, his arms crossed over his chest. His hair falls into his dark eyes, and his clothes are dark today as well. They almost always are. There is a light blush gracing his cheekbones.

"Why?" I snort "That's probably the most boring thing I've ever heard"

"Are you kidding?" there's sarcasm masking his face, but his voice is hoarse "Watching your face is like reading the actual story"

"Bullshit" I snort. I stand from the chair "What do you want?"

"Matilda said you wanted to speak to me" he shrugs, but he's not looking at my face, his eyes are sweeping down my bare legs, over my torso, I can practically feel his eyes sweeping the hem of his shirt hanging from my frame.

"I asked her to ask you what you want with me" I mimic his stance, my eyes leveled at his face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I've been here for a week, you've done nothing. What are you trying to get out of my presence here?"

He stares at me for a long time, which is irritating, because as soon as our eyes lock stubbornness crashes into my chest, and I refuse to be the first to look away. I hope he would glance away first, but his black eyes stay glued to mine as he murmurs;

"That's for me to know, Ris"

I scowl angrily "I cant get out, I cant run away. What would I do with the information you give me? Just tell me"

"No" is his blunt reply.

"Why?" I demand.

"Because I can see how much it irritates you"

"You're a bastard" I sneer.

"It's unladylike to swear" he replies, a gleeful glint to his eyes as he watches the anger building in mine.

"Do I look like a fucking lady?" I snarl, I can feel the fury building at his smug face and laid back attitude; he thinks this is a game, when its my life he's toying with.

"You're sexy when you're angry"

I had been in the act of turning away in disgust, but now I whirl back to him, and I can feel the snarl building in my throat as I bare my teeth. I am half demon, and so there is no demon in me to be felt, considering I am the demon. But at this moment I feel the bitter blood in my veins boiling, as if the demon, the darker side of me, were raising its head and sniffing at the air, discovering the sweet scent of blood and fury, ready to act on it. I haven't killed in over a week, as terrible as it sounds, the darkness within me must me quenched, and there is no one around to cease the flames of the evil within me, and Sebastian is doing nothing but feeding the fire, unaware that he may be consumed by it.

"You don't want to see me much angrier than this" my voice is a guttural growl.

"Really? I think I do." he crosses his arms over his broad chest and grins at me with malice "Will you hulk out and rip off your clothes, because I would love to see that"

My whole body quivers with rage, and for a moment I try to repress it; I don't want to hurt him. But then that silly little smirk adorning his lips cuts deep into my chest.

I don't consciously decide to move, but then I'm right in front of him, and my hand is lashing out. I catch him in the cheek, a backhand to the face, and he stumbles with the force of it. The backs of his knees hit my bed, and his legs go out from under him, he lands in a sprawl across the mattress.

I expect him to get angry, but instead of a darkening in his eyes, his grin is bright. He dabs at his cheek bone, which is glowing red.

"You look good from this angle." he says eyes humoured and voice husky. He's lying on his back, and his eyes are bright as he looks up at me.

"Fuck you" I spin away, knowing that if I stay and get angrier I will kill him.

I aim for the door, but I'm only two steps away when I feel his arm around my waist, tight as iron as he yanks me back. I shriek, overbalancing and surprised. I trip and fall, and suddenly I'm cushioned by the mattress and trapped by his body.

His hands clamp around my wrists and slam them down on either side of me. I growl at him, shoving him up, but I only manage to move him for an instant, and then his weight falls against my stomach, all his strength going into clamping my hands down. I slam my knee into his back, and that makes him wince, but even so, at the angle I'm at, I cant get enough power into the strike to seriously injure him, and he's positioned himself expertly. I'm trapped.

"You look great from this angle" he grins it, and where his eyes were bright before, now they're alight with excitement and joy that I'm pinned beneath him.

"Get off" I screech at him, wrench around in his grasp. He only laughs.

"No way, I may never have this opportunity again" he smirks.

I struggle viciously, but I only manage to elevate his torso for a moment before he slams me back down. I am stronger than him, he knows it and I know it. But physics is on his side, and his weight and position holds me firm.

"You son of a bitch" I snarl.

"Lilith will be insulted at that" he cackles, his blonde hair falls into his eyes as he looms over me, and his cheeks are flushed now.

I can feel the crimson washing into my eyes as well as my cheeks, and the next moment Sebastian is frowning.

"Your eyes…" he says uncertainly.

"Its what happens when I get angry" I grit my teeth against the headache that pounds through my skull. I can feel the darkness rising, reaching, wanting to crush Sebastian in its deadly grip.

"Interesting" he acknowledges.

"Get off me, Jonathon" I tell him stiffly.

"I don't appreciate the use of that name" he narrows his eyes.

"You think I give a shit about what you think?" I fume, my voice rising to a shout "You're sat on my goddamn chest! Get the fuck off me _Jonathon_ or my eyes wont be the only thing that will change!"

"I'd love to see what else there is" he grins.

"I swear on heaven and hell if you do not get off of me you wont survive to see the light of the new day" my voice is deadly calm, and that is when I know things are bad, before I lose it completely there is a moment, like the calm before a storm, where the world is completely clear to me, where everything is veiled in a sense of clarity, where my actions are well defined and my speech perfect, and then I lose control, and when I wake from the stupor that unleashing the demon brings upon my conscious mind, I am usually surrounded by bodies.

"I will" he doesn't seem to care that I am quivering in fury beneath him.

I let out a growl so vicious it almost tears my throat on its way out, he chuckles and dips his head low, his nose brushing the tip of mine. I snap my teeth in his direction and he lets out a low chuckle, unconcerned.

I feel the brim of his nose, running along my cheek, before I can twist my head to really take a chunk out of him, I feel him at my jaw, his soft touch grazing my jaw, leaving behind a trail of fire that burns. His lips brush my throat, just below my ear, and I snarl, writhing, but it doesn't seem to discourage him at all as he nips at my earlobe, my body jerks of its own accord, trying to dislodge him from his admittedly clever position.

His teeth graze the skin beneath my ear, his lips then following the fall of my throat, his tongue lapping at the skin, I grit my teeth.  
I snarl as I feel his mouth encase the spot where my shoulder meets my neck, his teeth digging in sharply, sucking deeply. I know he'll leave a mark, just like he wants to, and I refuse to have any lingering token of him on me like a brand on cattle. I wriggle beneath him, and when his mouth dislodges from my flesh he looks up at me in annoyance.

I bring my head down sharply, my forehead slamming into the bridge of his nose. He yelps, and I feel blood splatter my cheek as the skin tears.

"You little shit!" he curses, blood dripping over his lips. I cackle beneath him.

"What, you expect me to lie down and take it like one of your little whores?!" I slam my knee into his back and he grunts, jerking forward from the force of it, and when his head flies forward I throw mine up, and again my forehead connects, with his mouth this time, and he hisses.

One of his hands comes free of my left wrist, rising to clutch at his mouth as he sits up and groans.

I don't think about it, my aim is off with my left hand, and there isn't as much power behind it, but that doesn't matter at all as my nails lash out and rake across his cheek, he cries out as blood wells from two of the slashes.

"Ris, I would stop if I were you" he warns, I wrench beneath him, but my opportunity is gone as his hands clamp down on my shoulders with so much force my body bends to his will and arches back into the bed. His face is poised above mine, so close I can feel his panted breath against my cheek and blood splattering my skin from his wounds. The bridge of his nose is cut, blood drying around it now, there's blood at his lips too, probably from split gums, and three red lines are raised against his lovely pale cheekbone, two of them leaking small streams of crimson.

"Why don't you get off me, and then maybe you could fight like a man?" I suggest breathlessly, still straining against his hold but he must really want to keep me here, his arms are shaking against the strain and he seems to be keeping me in place with nothing but his willpower.

"I don't want to fight you" he scoffs, his nails dig deep into the flesh at my shoulders.

"Then what-" I start to demand, but I'm cut off as his lips crash into mine.

I don't expect it at all, and I gasp as his mouth slants against mine, rough and demanding. His lips move but I'm frozen in place, forgetting to struggle against his hold for a moment. His actions are earnest, and my thoughts scatter as his restraint becomes an embrace, his large hands holding my shoulders in a tight but painless grip as he lifts me just slightly so he can slip one hand to the back of my neck to cushion me, holding me in place with a lot less force than before.

I'm still frozen, shocked into submission for the moment, my eyes widened in surprise. He doesn't seem to mind though as my lips don't respond, his other hand on my shoulder slips down to my waist, wrapping around it tightly and pulling my chest against his. His breath is hot in my mouth.

Then realisation hits too late. He wants me. Like, wants me. I hadn't even realised, I thought he'd wanted to hurt me, kill me even when he'd thrown me to the bed. I remember a week before when we were in the kitchen, and I'd almost kissed him when I'd taken the stupid pop tarts, how he'd appeared hurt when I'd pulled away. I thought nothing of it at the time, utterly oblivious. But the urgency of his lips against mine are hard to ignore.

My mind flits over the possibilities quickly. I need to get out, I need to run, because there is no way I'm going further with him. Like hell I will. He's distracted now, but not enough to push away I don't think. I sigh against his mouth, knowing what I have to do.

My hands, which had been braced beneath me to hold me up, now reach up to grip the front of his shirt. I yank him down and we fall together back onto the mattress. My lips start moving against his, and I feel his gasp as I respond to him finally.

I reach up to grip the back of his neck, yanking him down more fully against me, and to bridge the gap between us he moves his body from my stomach, like I knew he would, so he can cover my body with his, his hips digging into mine, his legs nudging my thighs apart to make room for himself, all the while our lips working at each others.

Something stirs in my stomach, and for a moment I contemplate the feeling, confused. I shake it from my mind though as Sebastian's hands come up to cup my face, his grip soft now, his body spread over mine, no weight stretched atop me now.

For an absurd moment guilt washes over me. Now that I'm giving him what he wants he's gentle. I can feel his want in every part of his body that touches me, I wonder if its just a need to be loved. But then my mind hardens; just because he has abandonment issues doesn't mean he can take whatever he wants by force, I'll be sure that he knows that.

I twist beneath him sharply, my lips still planted against his. At first he barely notices; his mouth still moves resolutely against mine and his hands still lay gently against my cheeks. For a moment I kiss him back again, my hands planted against his flat stomach, knelt above him like he was against me.

I pull away from him with a yank, jumping back from the bed to crouch half a meter away. My chest is heaving, my breathing coming quick.  
For a moment he doesn't move, just lays sprawled on the bed, staring up at the canopy above it. My own chest is heaving but I ignore my struggling lungs for the moment, waiting for him to do something, anything.

Slowly, he sits up. His cheeks are flushed a bright pink, his lips are parted and his eyes strikingly bright against the back drop of white flesh. He doesn't look angry, like I'd expected him to. Instead his face holds a look of hurt.

"Get out" my voice is a snap, hard and cold and devoid of emotion.

"Ris-" he stands up and holds his hands out in an earnest gesture, moving as if to touch me. I jerk back at him and hiss at him, and I know that the reason he pauses is the red lighting up my irises.

"Just leave" I tell him stonily, I turn my face away as he stares at me for a long moment. He moves shortly afterwards, shoulders slumped as he stomps his way to the door, his face sullen.

"That was a mistake, Ris" he says, his voice is muffled. I don't look at him.

"Yes it was, on your part" my voice is a snap.

I hear his sigh, and his footsteps as he moves from the room, I'm tempted to let him leave without saying another word, not wanting to provoke another confrontation that will end in bruises and bloody lips. But resentment wells up in my chest and the red has yet to leave my eyes, I cant let him get away without a warning.

I dart out of my room and onto the landing. He is halfway down the corridor, just turning to start up the stairs.

"Sebastian!" I call, my voice too loud in the harrowing building. It ricochets off the walls and bounces down the open spaces as if ten of me were calling after him. He doesn't turn to face me, but he does stop. "If you do that again, I'll kill you"

He doesn't react to my casual threat, his body is still except for the steady rise and fall of his shoulders, the pace only a little fast for normality.

"Fair enough" his murmur is quiet, and I'd have missed it if I didn't have monsters blood running steadily beneath my skin.

We both turn at the same time, simultaneously stomping off in different directions to brood. I got no answers from him, except gained a very sure understanding that any truce we had between us is now over.


	7. Chapter 7

It's been four days since Sebastian's visit to my room. I'm too stubborn to leave, and too unsure of my emotions to go out and see him without knowing if I'll take a swing at his jaw.

Even so, I grow bored, and agitated. Matilda brings me food, which I scarcely eat. When she comes to collect the dishes she sighs heavily and tries to soothe me, but my insides wont stop writhing, and I cant hold down larger portions of food. The nightmares don't help. Every single night, flashes into my past, seeing blood and death at every turn. Hearing screams that tear at my ears. I wake sweating, and cant sleep again after that.

The house grows colder, and when I open the window I can smell winter in the air outside. Matilda makes trips more often to my room to deliver wood for me. I wonder who chops it up, knowing it's probably Sebastian. My suspicions are confirmed when I glimpse him out the window one evening, the light leaking from the sky and casting shadows in the tall trees beyond the wall. It was his hair that caught my eye, all the colours outside the window were greys and blacks and dark blues, only the grass below the house holding any hint of colour. His white hair didn't belong in the backdrop of such dreariness.

I hadn't watched for long, he'd been in a black vest and grey jogging bottoms that had hung low on his hips. He wasn't far from my window, just around the side of the house and towards the back, near the wall. He'd been hacking away at logs with an intensity that meant he could only have been working off anger. Then he'd glanced up at my window as he'd paused, and I'd started, because I knew he'd seen me. A normal person only would have been able to see a shadow, but we are both different in our own way, and his body froze and his face twisted into a scowl. That's when I'd turned from the window.

So now I sit in my chair and read, of great adventures and stupid little romances. The bleaker my attitude becomes the more exciting the books are that Matilda brings.

Finally, I've had enough. I stomp from my room under the pretenses of going to get a drink, even though there is a glass of water standing atop my bedside cabinet. I don't care anyway, I move almost silently towards the kitchen, and I almost, _almost, _breathe a sigh of relief as I find it empty. Scouring the cabinets, the fridge and even a little pantry nestled into a little alcove near the back of the room.

I give a gleeful cackle as I find a large bottle of coca cola on a rack in the fridge. I open it right there and chug back a few gulps, grimacing as the fizz burns the back of my throat. When I set it on the counter next to the fridge I give a hearty belch as I nudge the fridge open again to peer inside for some form of junk food.

"There are chips in the pantry" a cool voice makes me spin so quickly I almost drop the bottle of coke, but manage to grapple it into a standing position on the counter once again "Elegant" Sebastian remarks with a sneer.

"Why do you keep chips in a pantry?" I frown, mopping up a few droplets of cola with a cloth I find in the sink.

"To... keep them dry?" he says, voice riddled with confusion.

"Is there an oven in there or something?"

"What?" he demands "You don't put chips in an oven!" he scoffs.

"So you're supposed to eat them _frozen?!_"

"Frozen...? _Ohh,_" a startled laugh escapes his pale lips "You're British. Crisps, you call them. There are crisps in the pantry" he chuckles and shakes his head, but I'm already a blur as I dart into the pantry and search frantically, giving a whoop when I find a packet of Doritos.

"Are those your favourite or something?" Sebastian raises a pale eyebrow as I exit and sees me already punching on them, I nod "I'll tell Matilda to stop buying them" he smirks, and I poke out my tongue covered in mushed up food. "Lovely"

"I know" I smirk at him and go to strut passed, but Sebastian is already at the door, blocking my way. I stop several meters from him. "Don't start"

"I wanted to... apologise" he doesn't look at me, at all "For the other day"

"That's weird, my ears seem to be broken or something, could you repeat?" Sebastian's jaw clenches and his eyes become flat and cold.

"It is weird, my brain seems to have broken as well" he snaps back "Considering I deluded myself into thinking you'd be adult about this"

"Oh, you mean adult about the fact you came into my room, pinned me to the bed and forced your tongue down my throat?" I lift a lazy eyebrow, and I blanch as he _flinches _at my words. My eyes narrow, is this just some stupid ploy? To get me to trust him?

"Look- I wasn't, myself" his voice wavers "I didn't mean what I did, sometimes its just hard; to control the urges. To suppress that which seems-"

"The most natural thing in the world" I finish for him and he looks up at me in shock "You forget Sebastian, we're similar"

"I do forget" he nods.

"It's no excuse though, the impulses" my voice is hard "I don't want to hate you, but you're making it difficult"

"I _know__"_ its almost a moan "I never wanted to hurt you. I just-... I don't know what I wanted"

"Well, even if you had wanted me in that way, you think the way you went about it was acceptable?" I arch an eyebrow at him, he doesn't answer. "You think because your dad was a grade A asshole you can be one too?"

"You don't know anything about my father" his voice is cold.

"I know he was a real piece of shit, and he hurt you. But that doesn't give you leave to be that as well" I narrow my eyes at him.

"You think I don't know that?" he demands, his black eyes full of fury "You think I _want _to be a monster? You think I want to be hated?"

"Of course I don't think that!" I snap, slamming the crisps onto the counter as I stare at him in annoyance "But I know for a fact that you don't try hard enough to fight it"

"Oh really?" he sneers "And you know that how?"

"You were pinning me down four days ago, weren't you? You weren't fighting the impulses then. Even though you knew it was wrong, you knew I didn't want it, and yet you allowed the darker part of you to take control to achieve what you wanted done."

Sebastian looks at me for a long time, his hands balled at his sides, his eyes intent on my face. I don't look away.

"You're right." he shakes his head and shrugs, running a hand through his hair "I knew you were right as soon as you pushed me off. Ris, I am so, so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you by keeping you here" his eyes plead with me to understand "I just wanted-"

The shattering of glass somewhere off in the house startles me, the lights flicker, and when they come back to life I'm in front of Sebastian, clutching one of his arms.

"What the fuck was that?" I hiss, looking around.

"Matilda," Sebastian murmurs, his hands brush over mine once, before twisting free and moving from the room. I follow, my eyes darting around "Go to your room, Ris"

"Excuse me?" I snort "I haven't killed anything in a while, I'm getting all excited" I glance over to see Sebastian looking away with a smile tugging the corners of his lips upwards.

We move past the entry hall and into what looks like a massive dinning hall, fit for some seriously rich bastards. I make a whistle of appreciation, and then the lights flicker again.

"Does this happen often?" I murmur.

"No"

"Intruders?"

"This place doesn't show up to mundanes" we take a small corridor off the dining room, it is dark here "Just a forest, nothing at the top of the hill. They stay away. My guess is demons or shadowhunters"

"Neither are my favourite things, so shall we go get weapons?"

"Lets just make sure Matilda hasn't just stuck something in a plug socket first" he chuckles.

We emerge into what looks like a wash room, with washing machines and tumble dryers and an ironing board. Matilda is sprawled on the floor on her front, blood seeping from beneath her.

I rush forward, yanking her onto her back and tapping her fleshy cheek, hoping she wakes. The gaping slash in her throat probably should give it away.

"She's gone" Sebastian grips the tops of my arms and pulls me gently to my feet as I stare in a mixture of sadness, horror and anger.

"Demons then, I'm guessing" I breathe.

"Yeah" he murmurs, his hands still hold my arms, and I wonder what he feels, looking down at the woman who had helped raise him, cut down as if she were nothing. "We'll take care of her later, I need to find whoever is in the house" he lets go of me and steps towards the door "Please stay here"

I scowl and leap past him in the blink of an eye to hover in the doorway "Just because you have a penis doesn't mean you can kick ass better than me"

Sebastian stares, rolls his eyes and sighed. "Whatever, just- be careful"

"Why? We hate each other, right?"

Sebastian snorts and reaches out a hand to brush my cheek, quicker than I can even react, he leans over and presses a gentle kiss to my lips, I jerk back, glaring. He chuckles and brushes past me. I growl after him.

I follow Sebastian quickly, sticking close to his back as he retraces our steps back up into the entrance hall. "Training room, weapons" he murmurs. I nod, turning to move up the stairs, only to stop dead when I catch sight of something poised at the top. It is hunched over, glaring down with eyes that glows a vivid white, with skin white as snow. It opens its mouth, and I blanch as I catch sight of the strips of flesh molding its lips together. They stretch, and inside the mouth is nothing but a gaping black home.

"Oh that's gross" I shudder, the thing screeches and leaps to the wall, scuttling over the plaster and scraping away flakes with its claws. "Oh, you want to play up high?" I sneer "I'm _very _good at that game"

I groan as I feel the familiar ache in my back, my skin tearing, muscles expanding. "Sebastian, rip the back of the shirt" he doesn't even question me, only rips a large whole in the shirt I'm wearing, I feel the cold air on my skin, before it splits in two long lines down my shoulder blades, and I scream as muscle and bone and feathers burst forth, pain arching my body backwards and bending it in half.

My wings open wide, probably around one and a half meters long each, pitch black and silky. The flex, the feathers rustling. I stretch them, beat once at the air, and then launch myself up, wings tucked against my back. When I come to halt in the air I spread them wide, beating at the air and hovering. The creature pauses with its hand raised in mid air to take a swipe at me. I feel my canines growing, stretching, sharpening to deadly points. My eyes flash red, the grey gone.

The demon screeches and launched itself at me, mouth stretching as it shrieks. I give a lazy smile and reach out a hand, catching it around its throat. One squeeze snaps its neck almost in two, and I let the body drop to the floor, where it disintegrates into ash.

I drop to the floor too, not even bothering to bend my knees to absorb the impact. My wings tuck themselves against my back, my canines poke at my bottom lip. I turn to Sebastian, a faint growl lodged in my throat. He stares at me, half in fear, half in awe. I grin to show him I'm not a total monster, and still in control.

"Would you like to try and pin me down now?" I smirk at him, and he lets out a chuckle that stutters a little.

"I would love to" he grins back at me, black eyes dancing "However, I do think there are more"

"Good" I turn to move up the stairs "I've got excess anger to burn off"

"Aren't you glad I made you angry now?" Sebastian is beside me in a flash, and his mischievous grin twists my insides. The dark part of me, the evil part, wants to yank him towards me and never let him go. What chaos we could cause... the mayhem, the misery and grief. We could rule the world, and the thought shines in his eyes too, willing, wanting. Ready to follow me no matter where I might take us.

"I said you had to fight it" I murmur as I look away "You aren't trying very hard"

"I am trying though" he replies, and I look over to see the crazy gleam gone from his eyes, he smiles at me wanly, looking pained.

"Well, its a start"


	8. Chapter 8

"Quickly, Ris" Sebastian's hand flattens itself against the small of my back, guiding me quickly up the stairs. I almost shake it off, feeling uncomfortable with his forearm brushing my wings, making me shudder at the contact. Instead I allow it, looking every which way as we move together, gravity low to the ground, moving without sound.

Reaching the top of the second set of stairs, we turn automatically to the training room, finding the way already blocked by a demon, similar to the first, larger this time though. Its mouth opens wide and it shrieks at us. It lunges and I stumble back to get out of its way, but its claws rake across my thigh and I cry out, more from irritation than actual pain.

Sebastian's hand flies out, a deadly streak of bone, muscle and flesh in the darkness. His hand disappears into its chest, and he rips it out a moment later, clutching what seems to be a heart, although its coated in black liquid and considerably smaller than what resides within the chest of a human. Sebastian tosses it aside, unfazed, and reaches back to grip my upper arm and pull me forward. The door to the training room swings open, and I glance back in time to spot at least seven more of those things scuttling forward like apes, towards the door.

Slamming and locking the door, Sebastian throws his back against it, and when the bodies hit it, the wood shudders. The shrieking on the other side continues.

"Are you okay?" he moves from the door, which trembles but holds firm. Sebastian bends low, kneeling in front of me to grip my thigh.

"Yeah" I attempt to pull from his grip, but he holds me firm, pulling wide the rip in my loose fitting trousers to inspect the gash.

"It's a clean cut, doesn't look to be any unwanted substances or liquids oozing. I don't think you're poisoned" he looks up at me from the position on the floor, his black eyes wide and round, looking at me with something I cant discern. "I can't smell anything wrong with it" he murmurs, his hands are still wrapped around my leg, one laid against my upper thigh, the other wrapped around the back of my knee.

"Good" I smile awkwardly, gently pulling my limb from his grasp. He stands, his eyes still on mine, and out of pure habit I refuse to look away. He must see the defiance in my gaze, because he smiles gently before brushing his thumb across my cheek. I don't pull away, knowing this will only amuse him more, and once he is disconnected from me, he turns abruptly to stroll towards one of the walls.

I focus for a while, my breathing coming in short gulps as I pull in my wings, feeling them disintegrate from my back. Its not painful, but I must remain concentrated or else it does become painful. I know Sebastian hears, but he must choose to ignore it.

"Which is your weapon of choice?" he calls over his shoulder. I follow him to the wall, my eyes trailing over the excessive amount of weapons. Sweet.

"I usually fight with knives. Close combat is much more entertaining" I turn a smirk on Sebastian, and I can tell he hides a smile of his own.

"Seraph blades?" he raises a pale eyebrow.

"Anything smaller?"

He hums, eyes searching, finally, he takes down a few boot knives, long and thing, about the length of my forearm each. I nod approvingly, hefting one in each hand.

The pounding at the door, which continues insistently, grows louder and more frantic, screeches from behind the wood indicate there's a lot more than I originally thought.

"You think we'll survive?" Sebastian asks, almost offhandedly as he grips the hilt of a seraph blade.

"Don't worry princess, I'll keep you safe" I wink at him, my heart speeding, the excitement building inside my chest.

"No doubt about that" he replies, amusement lacing his tone. "In case we don't though-" his hand grabs my wrist and spins me around, yanking me towards him so hard I slam into his chest. He catches me about the waist, and his forehead rests briefly against mine before his lips descend, pressing into my mouth with a gentleness that renders me breathless.

I don't pretend this time; I cant. His lips on mine are soft and warm, his hands on me gentle, leaving lines of fire in their wake as they trace my bare spine through the hole in my shirt. I can't pretend to kiss back, the way I react this time is genuine. My arms go up around his neck, careful not to knick him with the knives still in my hands.

Sebastian pulls back, his eyes bright and wide, trained down on my face as his breath whooshes out in surprised gasps.

"You kissed back"

"Yeah well," I sniff nonchalantly, my hands splayed across his chest "We could die"

"Or you're just head over heels for me" he grins wickedly.

"Yeah, that must be it" I scoff. I grab his neck and pull him down, arching up on my tiptoes to flatten my chest against his, our lips already molded together, leaving me fighting for breath and causing my heart to pound. His arms lock around my waist and hoist me from the floor, lifting me until I'm on level ground with him. I drop my knives to wrap my arms around his shoulders, my hands splaying in his hair.

We pull away simultaneously, our breaths mixing as our foreheads fall together. He doesn't put me down, but holds on tighter as I hear the door start to splinter.

"I wont let you die, Ris" Sebastian murmurs, his eyes closed.

"You don't need to protect me" I tell him quietly, my hands still in his hair. This time it isn't just the darker side of me that wants to claim him, that wants to anchor him to my side and refuse to let him go. This time its the majority of me.

"I know" he chuckles "But that wont stop me from trying to"

"I know" I smile at him softly.

The door shrieks, the wood collapsing, Sebastian kisses me softly on the mouth one last time before placing me on my feet. I whirl to snatch up my knives, feeling the heat rising in my cheeks and the warmth in my chest. I try to push it all down, focusing on the door. One of the hinges have fallen off, the top one, and there's stark white hands clawing at the gap with long black claws.

"It may be a good time to let the demon take control" I mutter to Sebastian, I turn to him, seeing his manic smile, the black of his eyes consumes me, so much darker than it had been a moment before, I can see the violence, the thirst for death and carnage in those eyes. Slowly, I let his excitement wash over me, reaching out and molding mine with his, allowing the insanity to grip me, to turn my eyes crimson and elongate my canines, becoming an animal - a monster to be feared.

I turn to Sebastian with a smile, and his smile in return is diabolical. I love it.

I reach out to grab him again, to pull him towards me and continue what was way to tame a kiss, but at that second the door breaks in two, the pieces colliding to the floor with colossal booms, chucking up a cloud of splinters. The white monsters on the other side give shrieks which sound strangely like laughter, and then they pour in, at least twenty of them.

Several take to the walls, while many other's bound in on all fours, heading straight for us.

"You got the floor?" I snarl at Sebastian, darting forward to slash at a throat, kicking the writhing body away when it tries to claw at me.

"Go" I turn to Sebastian, and he bends to link his fingers together. I run towards him and leap, one of my feet falling into his joint hands on my decent. He shoves upwards and I push hard with my leg, I soar.

Without my wings its a little hard to aim, and I cry out as my stomach collides ungracefully with one of the rafters holding aloft the ceiling, before I can fall I abandon one of my knives, grabbing out with my hand, which snags the edge of the rafter. My muscles strain, but I ignore it, too preoccupied with pulling myself up.

With a huff I yank myself up and into a standing position, I don't spare a glance at Sebastian, but I can hear him fighting below, and hear the fleeting sound of laughter.

Two of the monsters land either side of me about a meter away, I snarl, the claws growing on my left hand. I lash out at the monster to my left, but the other one darts in, kicking at my ankle. I jump to the rafter in front, about a foot from mine, I turn back, lobbing the knife in my hand so hard it collides and sticks into the skull of the one that tried to kick me.

The other one shrieks and starts leaping away, its body agile and swift. I give chase, laughing as my hair flies around wildly, letting the claws form on my right hand too. The adrenalin is rushing, excitement coursing through me at the prospect of a decent fight.

The monster turns suddenly, facing me head on, I try to swerve to avoid it, but its hand lashes out to collide with my shoulder and I fall; off-balanced.

I gasp as I'm knocked backwards, but then the beam is moving past my eyes in slow motion and I reach out, my claws sinking into the wood, I snarl as my weight bears down on those few measly nails. I reach up, my mouth opening to hiss at the creature, still poised and grinning wildly at the notion of me falling. Gripping its ankle, I yank on it, and it screeches as its leg is taken out from under it, its back slamming into the beam as it falls. Nails rake my side and I cry out but hold on as the creature plummets. Hauling myself onto the beam yet again, I look around for my next opponent.

My heart stutters as I realize quite suddenly I'm surrounded. Clinging to the ceilings upside down, there are about five, circling me slowly. Two other's approach on their hands and feet from my right and left. I laugh manically.

One from the ceiling scuttles forward and swipes at me with white claws, I dodge, reach up and grip its throat, ripping its windpipe clean from his body. It gurgles frantically, and I leap lazily aside as its body drops to the floor. One darts in from the left, and I dodge another set of claws, throwing out a well placed kick to the head that knocks it back. Another, above at from behind, tries to grab at my hair, but I whirl and reach up to snap its wrist in one clean flick of my hand.

I don't have time to finish off that one, feeling a body to my side and find a large one standing beside me, its fist lashes out, knocking me off balance and causing me to fall onto my side, I keep my place on the beam and spin on my back, lashing out with a foot at its knee, which caves in backwards and rips a bellow from its throat. It falls, and a second later I hear the thud and crushing of bones from below.

I leap to my feet again, surging forward to slash claws across the back of one of the monsters, it snarls down at me, lashing out and catching me in the shoulder. I don't mind, I barely make a noise as I reach up, grab its head and twist sharply. Another thud far below.

Three left, one with a hand pointed at an odd angle, all leap at me at the same time, intent on ripping my heart from my chest. I have no time to move.

They collide with me, and we go down in a mass of struggling bodies. Claws rake across my forearm, and I lash out with my own, a shriek, a gurgle as I try to kick away from their bodies. If I didn't have them clinging to me I could land the fall easily, but they hold fast, and I bellow with rage as I feel the ground rushing up.

We hit with a deafening crash, and I feel the wooden boards give way beneath us. I gasp, winded.

"Ris!"

I sit up slowly, my hair a mess, dust and blood coating me almost from head to foot. Sebastian appears standing over me, there's a slash on his face and I feel a surge of protective anger. I grip the pale hand he offers, and when I'm standing he puts a hand to my shoulder.

We don't say anything, I stare at him, my nails and teeth still sharp as knives, no doubt my irises crimson. His eyes are as black as coal, his clothes are ripped, giving me a few peeks at pale, toned flesh beneath.

"I would love to fuck you right now" he breathes, eyes dancing and lips tilted up into a smile.

Some small part of my brain acknowledges this isn't his normal self speaking, its the demonic part, the terrible part of him. But that doesn't matter, because that's the part of me that responds.

"I'm game" I shrug, my grin villainous.

We reach for each other at the same time, our lips colliding roughly. We waste no time with silly pretenses; his hands sweep my legs from under me and soon my legs are around his hips, his shirt is no match for my claws, and with a few well placed slashes it falls in shreds from his back. Running my sharp nails slowly up his spine, he moans against my lips. Our tongues sweep into each other's mouths, exploring curiously, without restraint.

The blood from the wound at his cheek smears against my lips, and I pull back to stare at the wound. Sebastian starts to complain, but falls silent as my tongue laps at his wound, feeling the blood explode in my mouth. His lips go against my throat, and I pant happily as his teeth sink into my skin, not hard enough to break the flesh, but hard enough to leave blotchy marks.

This isn't like the time at the club, where I was under the influence of the drugs. I was willing then, but when they had been flushed from my system I was horrified. This doesn't work like that. I am not of two minds about this. The demon is a part of me, not some separate entity that just sweeps in and takes over my conscious mind. It's more like an emotion, like anger, it grips my body and lends me strength, lends me a fire to get things done. But my decisions, my mind and my body are still my own.

Which is why I note my confusion in the back of my mind as my fingers dig into the skin at Sebastian's shoulder blades and draws a sharp intake of breath from his mouth. I never would have done this, never would have allowed him to touch me like he is doing now. But I cant bring myself to do it, cant drag my lips from his skin for a moment.

I moan in approval as he pushes my shirt up my back, the material is bunched around my ribs when the shattering from the other side of the room breaks our lips apart.

Glancing over, I sigh as I spot windows being broken, demons on the outside, all sorts of types; winged demons, demons that look almost human, ones holding weapons and some breathing fire.

"How rude" I murmur, eyes flashing at the audacity of them stopping us.

"I agree," Sebastian says, fury lacing his tone. "We should kill them, immediately"

"And finish this afterwards?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Of course"

I angle my face upwards, and he gladly reaches down to press his lips to mine, ignoring the shrieking and bellowing of the demons, still not through the windows yet. Wriggling until Sebastian drops me, I run one regretful hand over the hard panes of his stomach before turning away to snatch up the knife I had dropped, lying embedded in the floor nearby.

Turning back, I move to Sebastian's side, where he grips a seraph blade, he looks down at me, the manic, violent glint to his eyes again.

"Ready?" he smirks. I nod, grinning wildly.

We turn and run, heading straight for the chattering, pulsing crowd of demons.

_"Stop!"_ the thunderous voice has us stumbling to a startled stop.

Sebastian whirls, and slowly, glaring at the demons ahead of me, I turn too. I blink to make sure I know what I'm seeing. The woman hovering in the air in front of me is beautiful, bat like wings expand behind her, not beating even though she hangs in the air. She's completely naked, and blonde hair writhes around her pale body, all the way to her knees. Her eyes are black, no irises or pupils or even any whites.

"Jonathon" she breathes, holding out a hand. Her lovely face is soft and, if I'm seeing right - loving, as she looks at Sebastian.

"Lilith" he murmurs.


	9. Chapter 9

"Lilith?" I blanch, shocked.

The woman, still hanging five meters in the air half a room away, turns her awed gaze from Sebastian. I cant see where her eyes are directed, considering the emptiness of them, but her face does tilt in my direction.

"Ah, little Eris" she coos, Sebastian throws me a confused glance "You've caused quite a few problems for my demons over the last couple of years"

"Uh... sorry 'bout that" I shrug, not at all sorry.

She gives a laugh that has pain lancing through my chest as if I'd been punched. I almost stumble, but manage to contain the pain to show only on my face in a surprised grimace.

"Do not apologize, young one" she smiles softly "It really is quite amusing; watching them all flounder. How is your father, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know"

"Ah, shame" she constructs a look of sympathy on her lovely face "When a demonic parent neglects their children, leaving them to fend for themselves."

"I've done plenty fine on my own" I sneer. Sebastian grips my wrist, a warning and a restraint.

"That you have, dear" she drifts to the ground gracefully, her face angles towards Sebastian's hand on my skin for a moment "I've come to collect you, Jonathon"

"What?" the boy next to me frown's at his 'mother'.

"I am gathering a large number of demons, my darling boy" she moves towards us, graceful, lethal "To combat the shadowhunters and finally wipe them from the earth" a terrible smile lights her face.

With the anger and violence fast trickling from my system, I stare at the woman incredulously "Sorry, why would you want to do that?"

Sebastian's hand flexes around my wrist, and the look he gives me is venomous, but Lilith answers me anyway "So that demons can wander here freely, of course" she gives a dainty laugh laced with danger "Earth has always been a favourite of ours, so many little humans to hurt, and their emotions are so delicious" her tongue flicks out, and its the same as a snakes, forked at the end and dark in colour.

"Yeah, you realise that isn't going to happen, right?" I arch an eyebrow.

"Why ever not?" she chortles "It's going to be wonderful. Nothing but chaos. Jonathon is going to help accomplish that. Are you not, my darling?" she is close enough to reach out a hand and trail it lightly over Sebastian's cheek, he is much taller than her, but the sheer power in the air around her makes it feel like I'm standing next to a giant.

"You are?" I turn wide eyes on him, and my hand slips from his. He reaches for me again but I wrench away, staring in horror.

Lilith continues, oblivious to what is passing between the both of us.

"He will rule afterwards, whatever pitiful humans remain, he will stand above. They will worship him, bend to his every will. He will have everything he deserves" Lilith's face shows nothing but devotion and a twisted kind of love.

"A rotten kingdom?" I murmur, now a few steps away. Sebastian is trying to move towards me, the cut on his cheek standing vivid against his pale skin, a reminder that he is still mortal, still capable of bleeding. Lilith stands between us though, and he stares at me with those wide black eyes.

"What was that, dear?" Lilith raises pale eyebrows in my direction.

"That's what he will have." I glare at her viciously "You'll give him the world - but it will be blackened and smoking. It wont be a world at all."

"You could be there too, Ris" Sebastian says, his voice earnest as he stares at me "Please. If this happens - all those people you hate, the ones you kill, would be obliterated."

"Along with the other billions of people on this planet" I hiss at him.

"You want her, my love?" Lilith coos, her hand reaching up to stroke the back of his head, they're both looking at me now, Sebastian pleading, Lilith in what must be amusement. "We can spare her. Or better yet, Eris; fight with us. All you have to do is help kill the Nephilim. The rest we will destroy ourselves"

"You're fucking insane" I laugh and shake my head.

"Ah, but are you so different?" Lilith's smile is mocking.

"We''ll see" I grin back.

"What do you mean-" my fist cuts off the rest of her sentence.

Sebastian roars my name, but I cant stop, I cant give her a moment to breathe. My fist comes up again, smacking her down to the floor. My foot lashes out, catching her in the chin, she hisses, but I kick her so hard in the ribs she flies several feet through the air. I dart after her, bring up my knee and smash into it her jaw as she tries to rise.

Shrieks from behind me, the demons pouring in to help their master, but I cant stop, I have to-

My claws lash out, slashing across her throat, ripping her windpipe in two. She gurgles, her black eyes empty as she looks up at me. I stare at her in triumph.

Something grabs me from behind, launching me backwards, I shriek as something else catches me, gripping the scruff of my neck and slamming me into the ground. My forehead hits and I cry out.

I aim a kick at whatever stands above me, a man with crimson eyes. My foot connects with his stomach and sends him backwards. Something else looms over me, a slug like creature with spikes jutting from its body. I roll out of the way as it sends a spike shooting from its body. Scrambling to my feet, I dodge as a line of fire shoots at my face.

I aim a punch at another creature with armor for skin, it shoots backwards with a shriek. Claws rake up my back and I yell as I spin, my palm lancing up to twist the wrist of a bat like creature with leather wings and black limbs.

A kick to my ankle sends me to the floor with a screech of pain, fire flashes towards my face and I spin away, catching it on the lower back instead, but it still makes me cry out as it singes my clothes to my body.

Limbs rain down on me, striking from every angle, I'm unable to do anything, can't even cover up properly and so the only thing I do is curl my arms around my head, wincing as the hits bare down on my bare skin. Thankfully, the demons are too closely packed to use their powers, so the only thing that hits is punches and claws.

Everything stops around me, the blows halt and the pain washes in, blinding me for a split second. Then there is a hand on my forearm, yanking me to my feet. I hiss in pain.

Sebastian pulls me around to face him, his black eyes washing over my sagging form, his palms cupping my cheeks and his thumb smoothing at my bloody lip. "Ris" he murmurs, head bent low to mine.

The monsters shriek, and Sebastian wraps me in an arm and pulls me tight into his side, looking on at the horde as I regain my breath, readying my body for the next fight. _I've been in worse,_ I assure myself, _I can do this. _

"Can you fight?" he asks quietly, low to my ear. I nod silently, hands pressed into his side, noting that he's shirtless and feeling momentarily guilty that I'd destroyed his shirt and removed a flimsy layer of protection. He doesn't seem to mind.

The horde look on at us, realisng Sebastian will fight with me, sizing up their situation. One demon bellows, the rest join in until the very ceiling starts to shake. I allow the crimson to wash into my eyes, feel my canines growing eagerly, my claws growing against Sebastian's pale skin; riddled with runes.

Sebastian's hand flutters against my cheek for a mere moment before I stand on my own, pulling my body up straight and glaring on viciously at the crowd, letting them see exactly what they're fighting as I snarl. The boy next to me settles into a fighting stance, a seraph blade held tightly in his right fist. I don't look at him as I drop into a crouch and hiss at the demons in my direction.

One demon, a humongous bear with yellow eyes and fur that writhes as if alive gives a roar and charges right at me.

"_STOP!" _comes a bellow that literally makes plaster fall from the ceiling. I wince, but breathe a sigh of relief as the bear pauses, closing its gaping maw that I'm sure would have wrapped its way around my entire body and bitten me in two.

Lilith rises from the back of the room, her leather wings flapping frantically, her face livid, the pink scar of her throat standing out starkly against her white skin. My heart drops; I thought I'd killed her. I was willing to die - knowing that I'd have done the right thing. I sigh in irritation as she drops to the floor on the inside of the circle that has been created around Sebastian and I. The demons that had darted inside to finish us off retreat hastily.

"My darling, why are you fighting?" Sebastian and I turn to Lilith simultaneously, facing her head on.

"I can't allow Ris to die" he tells her, drawing himself upright and angling his body in front of mine just slightly. Lilith catches this movement and her eyes narrow dangerously.

"Why not?" Lilith's voice is the equivalent to the crack of a whip.

"We are the same, mother" his voice is soothing, like melted chocolate; I can see the anger melting from Lilith's face at his words "We are special. I cannot let Ris be harmed because she is like myself"

"She is like you" it's not a question, and Lilith tilts her head towards me, a ponderous frown on her angelic face.

"She is" Sebastian confirms.

"Then why does she fight?" Lilith hisses "Why does she not join us? Join you? You could be Queen, Eris. Queen to my Jonathon. Would you not like to rule, little one? Why do you fight me?"

"Because you're a fucking psychopath planning on destroying the current state of my planet?" I suggest, grinning at her sadistically. Sebastian grabs my hand as Lilith's hair lifts from her head and drifts as if in a strong autumn breeze, the demons in the room hiss and snarl.

"You will not stand down?" Lilith murmurs "You will not join our side?" her voice indicates that my answer is not to be one of sarcasm.

Sebastian looks down at me, his eyebrows curved atop his forehead. His lips are set in a grim line, and yet - his hand is warm in my own, his grip on me tight. If I refuse, will Sebastian stay by my side? Will he fight? Like I thought he had wanted to?

"I will not" shrieks, bellows, snarls as the demonic army surges forward eagerly, ready to wipe me from the face of the planet. The only thing that stops them is Lilith, holding out her palm to halt them in response to Sebastian stepping directly in front of me.

"Jonathon" she coos, holding out her palm "Come along, my love. Come with me. We will continue our plans for the destruction of the shadowhunters. All will be well."

"I can't" Sebastian replies quietly.

"What?"

"I cannot" he growls, loudly.

"Of course you can" Lilith laughs daintily, "Let go of the silly girl and we will take our leave. We will get you a new plaything; one of likeliness to her if you feel attached to the little angel." she smiles at him lovingly.

"I _am_ attached to her" my heart stutters at his words, panicked that he'll die here with me now, all because I badmouthed the mother of demons "Which is why I can't help you anymore"

"Jonathon-"

"That is not my name!" Sebastian roars, his face red "I am not that monster! I refuse to be him!"

"You refuse?" Lilith whispers, her face fades into a mask of fury _"You refuse?!"_

Her bellow of pure rage makes me stumble, but the hand holding mine steadies me, the demons around us are not so lucky. Some scuttle off in fear, some shriek and fall to the floor, other's explode or die right there. We're left standing amid broken bodies or whimpering, dying demons.

Sebastian seems unaffected by what just happened, maybe it's Lilith's blood inside him that makes him immune. Whatever it is I don't have it and I stumble, my head swimming. He catches me with an arm around my waist. Once my vision has cleared I find him staring down at me worriedly, Lilith stood opposite us heaving steam.

"Are you okay?" Sebastian murmurs.

Lilith's bellow doesn't even allow me to reply. "You will regret this, Jonathon!" she roars, pointing a trembling finger towards us. "If you will not be mine, you will be no ones!" she shrieks.

She flies at us, the mother of demon launches herself towards the pair of us. I gasp, my heart stuttering in my chest. Sebastian throws me away.

I land with a thud and a groan, rolling to a painful stop. Pushing myself up, my eyes darting around wildly. I find Lilith, straddling Sebastian, her hands around his throat.

"Stop it!" I shriek, launching to my feet and darting forwards.

My arms encircle her throat, wrenching her backwards and off of the boy she believes to be her son.

We grapple, my forearm jammed into her jugular, that is until my eyes find Sebastian, the gaping wound in his throat pumping crimson. I seem to freeze, and Lilith twists easily from my body. Not before her claws rake my inner forearm and I hear the sizzle of my flesh and look down.

"I've poisoned you, child" Lilith hisses, crouched a meter away, eyes alight and hair writhing, her wings extended "You will die along with my boy,"

"He was never yours" I spit at her. She knocks me off my feet, and I hit the ground with a thud and a gasp. The flutter of wings tells me she's gone. Rolling to my left, I find myself almost nose to nose with him, and I push myself to a sitting position with some effort, pulling my battered body towards him slowly.

"Sebastian?" I murmur.

He chokes in response, barely alive. Something builds in my throat and I let it out, wincing at the terrible noise that surely must be a sob. I haven't done that in a while.

Gathering him in my arms, I shift until my legs are laid beneath his torso, his head on my thigh and my arms around his shoulders. His hands grip my arms, his grip tight despite his paling flesh.

"Is your name-... Eris?" he coughs, splattering himself and me with blood.

I wipe the blood from his chin methodically "Yes"

"It's a good name" he murmurs.

"Shh, save your strength"

"For what?" he chuckles, and an extra large gush of blood from the wound washes down his torso, he ignores it "I'm dying, Eris"

"I'm sorry" I choke on tears and curse myself for being so pitiful.

"It was worth it" Sebastian shrugs and then winces, but that doesn't stop him from reaching up to brush trembling fingers across my wet cheek "Hey... are you- crying?" his grin is sly, even now.

"Yeah well, that was very traumatic for me" I shrug, sniffling.

"Or you're just," a cough "Head over heels... for me"

"Yeah" I laugh and sob at the same time "That must be it"

"Ris..." he says, his voice quiet, I wait patiently "I'm sorry... that I, did this- to you. I didn't mean... to hurt you" his breathing is becoming ragged, and my arms tighten around him "I wanted... to have, someone"

"Yeah, I know" I push my forehead into his, my eyes closed as I breathe him in, ignoring the coppery taste of blood in my mouth "You have someone now, Sebastian"

"Really?" I open my eyes to find his inches away, black as coal and full of something I don't want to see.

"Yeah" I smile at him tiredly.

"You're dying... too?"

"Yeah, poison" I show him my wound, sizzling, seeping yellow liquid. Sebastian winces.

"I'm sorry" he murmurs.

I shrug.

"Eris..." I dip my head to lay my lips against his, warm and gentle, soft and sweet. I taste tears and blood and sweat, but even then it makes my stomach flutter. When I pull away, his eyes are glassy and lifeless, but his lips are tilted into a soft smile.

"Don't" I gasp, clutching his shoulders "Don't take him from me. Please, bring him back"

I lay my forehead against his cheek, sobbing, begging, pleading for them to return him. He was almost there - almost good. Jonathon was dying, I _know _he was. Sebastian was beginning to live, to _feel_ things. "Bring him back!" I shout at the ceiling.

_This is what you want? This is who you choose? _

The voice makes my heart pound and eyes water, almost knocking me unconscious at the sheer amount of power in its words.

"Yes" I moan, the darkness pulling me in, the poison seeping through my veins and tainting my blood.

_Very well. _

I slip into the shadows, the all too familiar arms of death wrapping around me eagerly, murmuring in my ear that it was glad to see me again.


End file.
